German
Films
Mary
El-Beheri’s Library
November,
2005
| Ordering Films | U.S. Films about Germany | Classic German Films | Code Free DVD Players |
Film
Reviews by Name, Year and Rating
| Lauras Stern (2005) G (Children's series) | Marx and Coca Cola (1991) PG* |
| Mostly Martha (2002) PG* | Schulz und Schulz (1992) G* |
| Rosenstrasse (2004) PG* | Jetzt oder nie, Zeit ist Geld (2000) PG |
| Das Wunder von Bern (2003) PG | Das Schreckliche Mãdchen (1990)* PG |
R Rated for minor nudity (1-2 short scenes) Fast Forward!!
| Die Weisse Rose (1982)* |
|
| Goodbye, Lenin (2003)* | Die Verlorene Ehre der Katarina Blum (1975)* |
| Die Landãrztin(2005) | Die Wilden Kerle(2003) |
| Mãnner
(1985) |
Sonnenallee(1999) |
| R for
One big sex scene Nirgendwo in Afrika(2001)* Academy Award winner |
|
| Das Versprechen(The Promise) (1990)* | Die Bruecke(1959) |
R for Violence and/or Language, no explicit sex or nudity
| Lola Rennt (1997)* | Das Boot (1982)(shows one butt)* |
| Der Bulle und das Mãdchen (1984) |
|
| The Downfall (2004)* | Comments |
R for Content
Die Comedian Harmonists (1998)* |
|
| Im Juli (2003) pot smoking* | Alles auf Zucker!(2005) |
R/PG13 Language,
Nudity and Content
| Bandits(1999)* | Walter Moers’ Kleines Arschloch- der Film(1997) | Europa, Europa(1990) |
| Schule (2000) | Werner, Beinhart!!(2000)* |
Ratings
Lauras Stern(Gute-Nacht-Geschichten (2004-2005) – Children’s stories in 8-10 minute
segments. 3 -4 stories on each DVD
Laura's Star are magical stories
based on the hugely popular books of Klaus Baumgart
and it is about a 7 year old girl who has moved from the country to the city
with her younger brother and parents.. The star is, of course, a magic star.I
have 4 DVDs(total:13 stories). I
purchased mine in
http://www.amazon.de/
http://www.buycentral.de/qsh/lauras%2Bstern%2Bgute%2Bnacht%2Bgeschichten.html%20
Marx and
Coca Cola (1991) About East meeting West after the fall of
the Wall.Film Arobics,
Applause Learning Resources
Terrific film about a young man from
Schulz
Und Schulz (1992) Twin brothers live in different worlds,
east and west, find each other. Comedy.Brothers change places. Very interesting
plot. Film Arobics. Applause Learning Resources
Bella
Martha(Mostly Martha) (2002) Amazon.de.
Hollywood Video/Blockbuster, Applause Learning Resources
In present day Germany, a head chef
for an upscale restaurant, Martha (Martina Gedeck)
relies on her culinary skill as her primary means of communication. She lives
for her work and presides with obsessive care over a spotless, precise kitchen.
When her sister dies in a car accident, Martha has to care for Lina, her eight-year-old niece, a girl who proves as
resolute and single-minded as her aunt. The orderly world of Martha's kitchen
falls apart, and the owner brings in a flamboyant, fun-loving Italian sous chef (Sergio Castellitto) to
help her deal with the pressure. The two cooks are instantly at odds. Yet as
time goes by, with her whole world turned upside down and her personal space
more crowded than she could ever imagine, Martha begins to find a new recipe for
life.
Die Brücke (1959) Excellent movie to show now, about war. Academy
award nominee. About the horrors of war. A group
of German boys is ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during
the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads
of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the
approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and
honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge.
Jetzt oder Nie,
Zeit ist Geld
(2000) purchase in
Rosenstrasse (2004) purchased
Das Wunder
von Bern (2003) an unforgettable film
about a boy who loves soccer and a father who tries to
understand.
1954 wird für den 11-jährigen Matthias
Lubanski einiges anders. Sein Vater, den er noch nie gesehen hat, kehrt aus sowjetischer Kriegsgefangenschaft
heim. Matthias hat jedoch
längst einen Ersatzvater gefunden, den Nationalspieler Helmut Rahn. Als Rahns Maskottchen ist er, mit Hilfe seines Vaters, bei der Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft dabei
und erlebt hautnah "Das Wunder von Bern", den Sieg der deutschen Nationalelf. Nach dem Spiel kommt es zur endgültigen Aussöhnung zwischen Matthias und seinem Vater.
Die umfangreiche
Rahmenhandlung in Sönke
Wortmanns Film erweitert
das historische Spektrum über das sportliche Geschehen hinaus.
PG13
Das Schreckliche Mädchen (1990) Based on a true story.
Die Bruecke(1959)
Nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film. Violence.A group of German boys is ordered
to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the
second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the
approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and
honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge.
The Bridge is one of
the most-powerful antiwar films ever made. Based on an autobiographical novel by
Manfred Gregor, it depicts seven Bavarian schoolboys who face death defending an
insignificant bridge against an American attack in the last days of World War 2.
The film first vividly pictures the home lives and personal problems of the
boys. Then we see the boys joyfully discover they are being drafted into the
Wehrmacht, after which they are assigned to defend a bridge at the edge of their
town. Unknown to them, a colonel has given them this assignment because the
bridge is strategically useless, planning to withdraw them before the Germans
blow it up. But due to a mishap the boys are not withdrawn, and all but one die
defending it. This film did not come easily to the screen. Many publishers
rejected Manfred Gregor's book, several directors rejected the script, and the
young actors in the film had little or no experience. Yet in the end The Bridge
succeeded spectacularly. The director, Bernhard Wicki, was able to elicit
harrowing performances from his cast, and the film received accolades from all
over the World, including an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award
in America. Wicki went on to new directing assignments, including the German
sequence in The Longest Day, and several of the young actors found success in
German theater and television. Directed by Bernhard Wicki; music by Hans-Martin
Majewski; featuring Volker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, and Cordula
Trantow. West Germany, 1959, B&W, 102 minutes, German dialogue, English
subtitles.
R for slight nudity
but excellent films…fast forward
Die Weisse Rose (1982)
Film Arobics(one breast exposure, very brief), Applause
Learning Resources During the
Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to
question the decesions and sanity of Germany's Nazi
government. The students form a resistance cell which they name the "White Rose"
after a newsletter that is secretly distributed to the student body. At first
small in numbers and fearful of discovery, the White Rose begins to gain massive
support after a Nazi Gauleiter nearly incites a
student riot after a provokative speech. At this
point, the matter is taken over by the German Gestapo, who pledge to hunt down and destroy the members of the White
Rose. Buy at
amazon.com
There is a new version out now,too.(2005)
Das
Versprechen
Jenseits der Stille
(1996) Film Arobics, Hollywood Video (2 swimming scenes, very quick) One
sex scene but no sex shown in American version, Applause
Learning
Resources
Die
Verlorene Ehre der Katarina Blum (1975) Film Arobics (full explicit frontal nudity, and one brief breast
exposure when she is dressing after showering) Buy at
amazon.com
Die Landãrztin(2005) – Heimatsfilm from ARD. Purchased in
Die Wilden
Kerle(2003) Flotter Fussball Abendteuerfilm mit cooler Musik. Purchased in
Zusammenfassung: Alles ist gut, solange Du wild bist
Kommentar:
Das ist der Leitspruch und Schlachtruf der „Wilden Kerle" einer sehr jungen Fußballmannschaft aus dem gleichnamigen Familienfilm des
Regisseurs Joachim Masannek
von 2003. Nun sehe ich Familienfilme eher selten, aber den fand ich schon lustig, weil da die Sprösslinge von Uwe Ochsenknecht, Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht und Wilson Gonzales Ochsenknecht eindrucksvoll beweisen, dass sie nicht nur ihr gefährlichen Vornamen ganz gut verdaut, sondern das sie auch das schauspielerische Talent des
Vaters geerbt haben. Die Handlung ist so simpel wie rührend, eine sympathische Rasselbande jüngster Fußballer dribbeln mit einer anderen, eher unsymphatischen Rasselbande um einen heruntergekommenen, aber ihnen heiligen Bolzplatz.
Zum Schrecken der Jungs will dann gar noch ein Mädchen mitmachen und bei den wilden Kerlen einsteigen und sorgt für die ersten Hormonschübe bei den 9 bis 12jährigen Jungs.
Zum Ärger derselben kann das Mädel aber auch wirklich gut mit dem Ball umgehen und verdient sich so den Respekt bei allen. Erwachsene kommen meist nur am Rande vor. Nur Rufus Beck, die Edeltunte aus „Bewegte Männer" spielt den zotteligen Kioskbesitzer und Trainer dieser
Fußballverrückten, wilden
Gang. Cornelia Froboess gibt eine hibbelige Oma und Papa Uwe Ochsenknecht einen grimmigen Nachbarn.
Der Rest ist unter
15, spielt aber so erfrischend auf, als hätten sie in ihrem jungen Leben nie etwas anderes getan. Eine Rasselbande, die man adoptieren
möchte.
Das Thema selbst erinnert
Schon die Tatsache, dass jeder von der bolzenden Rasselbande ohne Probleme mein Kind sein könnte, macht mir diesen Film sympathisch. Dazu kommt, dass diese Jungs jede Laienspielschar von GZSZ über
Marienhof bis hin zur Lindenstrafe ganz locker an die Wand spielen können.
Wie gesagt, es ist nur
ein Familienfilm, den ich auf Premiere gesehen habe.
Nicht unbedingt meine übliche Sorte Film, aber dennoch sehr lustig.
Auf die Art
wird man den Namen Ochsenknecht noch eine ganze Weile in deutschen Filmen in Vor und Abspann lesen können.
Sonnenallee(1999)
Love me, love my double standards, that's what Julius (Lauterbach), a power hungry packaging magnate and habitual
seducer of secretaries, expects from his wife. He gets it too, until their 12th
anniversary, when a love bite on her neck suggests that an equaliser is at work. At this early point in Doris Dörrie's concise and sharply observed satire, you might be
forgiven for thinking that a feminist attack is under way. Not so. Julius, who
hasn't come to own a Maserati simply by waiting for
things to happen, takes leave of absence to strike back. Concealing his
identity, he persuades his wife's lover (Ochsenknecht)
to accept him, first as a lodger in his squalid bachelor apartment, then as a
partner in his low-achieving hippy life. It's the start of an unpredictable
friendship that puts both men's motivation under the microscope. The screenplay
requires a certain suspension of disbelief - would a wife be so easily deceived
by a gorilla suit? - but she turns the tables neatly so
that each gets his just deserts. Hers not to stick in the
knife, rather to entertain with insight and mirth.
Bodo (Benno Furmann) and Sissi (Franka Potente) come together under strange circumstances: at the
scene of an accident where Bodo saves Sissi's life. Sissi works as nurse
in a psychiatric hospital and Bodo is a crazy
criminal. After their initial meeting, Sissi feels
endebted to Bodo and sets
out to find him again, only to discover how closely connected her life is to
his. Young nurse Sissi lives a secluded life,
seemingly entirely devoted to her patients at Birkenhof asylum. Her first encounter with ex-soldier and
drifter Bodo has a lasting impact. He causes an
accident that results in her lying under a truck,
unable to breathe. While he provides life-saving first aid, mesmerized Sissi begins to wonder whether he may be the man of her
dreams. But when she tracks him down weeks later her affection is rejected, as
Bodo is stuck somewhere between a traumatic past and a
criminal future. Buy it at Hollywood Video or at
amazon.com
R for SEX
Nirgendwo in Afrika(2001) – Academy Award winner, Best Foreign
Film 2003, About a Jewish family that escapes the Nazis by going to
R for language or
violence
Lola
Rennt(1997) The bad language does not show up in
the German DVD, only in the
Das Boot(1982)
http://www.cosmopolis.ch/cosmo16/dasboot.htm
In the
midst of World War II, as the tide turns against the Axis, a German U-boat crew
is sent out to patrol the Atlantic and fire at Allied ships bringing supplies to
Widely considered to be director Wolfgang Petersen's best film and one of the finest German films ever made, DAS BOOT is stunningly
realistic in its portrayal of the cramped conditions aboard a German submarine.
Based on a novel by Lothar G. Buchheim, it is a striking example of an intelligent antiwar
film clothed in the guise of a military thriller.
Der
Bulle und das Mãdchen(1984) Purchased in
Advertising Rules(2001) Viktor Vogel is a
young, new marketing man who seems to have it all: a dream job and a beautiful
girlfriend. But those two entities collide when he pitches his girlfriend's fine
art concept for a multi-million dollar ad campaign. Will his first big job be
his last? Kraume. DVD, 2001, R, 108 minutes, Language: German and French.
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish Applause Learning
Resources Purchased
at
The Downfall(2004) Study Guide to accompany the German film. (Item #G171, DVD,
2004, Rated R, 154 min., German with English subtitles.) Oliver Hirschbiegel. Hitler had retreated to a bunker system under
the German Chancellery. Downfall focusus on the final days of the Reich and how the
horrifying epic of Hitler and his people was reflected in those last twelve days
in the bunker. In the dead of a November night in
1942, SS officers through the woods escort a group of young women to Wolf's
Lair, Hitler's headquarters in
Applause Learning
Resources for study packet. At Hollywood Video
for purchase.
R for Subject matter
Die
Comedian Harmonists (1998)Hollywood Video, Film Arobics, Hollywood Video, Applause Learning
Resources Berlin in 1928: Young actor and
musician Harry Frommermann has the idea of creating a
German version of the American a-cappella band "The Revellers". He then publishes an advertisement in a
newspaper and soon has formed a group out of singers Robert Biberti, Erich Collin, Ari Leschnikoff and Roman Cyckowski as
well as pianist Erwin Bootz. After a long time of
rehearsing and failures "The Comedian Harmonists", as the group calls her,
achieve a huge popularity, success and wealth in
Im Juli (2003)
Ihr sucht
einen absolut schönen Liebesfilm. Einen Liebesfilm der Schräg, realistisch und schlichtweg gut
ist
? Keine Schnulze, und
dazu auch noch ein Deutscher Film. Bitte schön. Dann kommt Ihr hieran nicht vorbei.Der unscheinbare angehende Lehrer Daniel Bannier
(Moritz Bleibtreu, Luna Papa) sieht an seinem letzten Schultag vor den Sommerferien aufgrund mangelnder Reisepläne einigen beschaulichen Wochen in seiner Heimatstadt Hamburg entgegen. Doch aus
dem ruhigen Terassenurlaub mit ein paar Büchern wird nichts. Als er die verträumte und abenteuerlustige Juli (Christiane Paul, Das Leben ist eine Baustelle) kennen lernt, die sich aus der Ferne in ihn verliebt hat, nimmt für Daniel ein extrem außergewöhnlicher Sommer seinen Lauf. Juli prophezeit ihm, dass er bald die Liebe seines Lebens kennen lernen wird und meint damit sich selbst. Daniel projiziert diese Voraussage jedoch auf Melek, die ihm kurz darauf über den Weg läuft. Die beiden verbringen den Abend miteinander, doch schon am nächsten Tag fliegt Melek nach
Aber was ihnen auf ihrer tour de force in die Türkei
tatsächlich alles widerfährt, hätte wohl keiner der beiden voraussagen können. Der deutsch-türkische Regisseur und Drehbuchautor Fatih Akin hat nach seinem hochgelobten Vorgängerfilm, Kurz und schmerzlos, mit dieser turbulenten, ideenreichen Mischung aus sommerlicher Liebeskomödie und abgedrehtem
einen krassen Genrewechsel vorgenommen. Roadmovie Eine selbst gestellte Aufgabe, die Akin mit Bravour gelöst hat. Auch wenn Im Juli streckenweise ein wenig zu konstruiert, überladen und vorhersehbar ist, macht es dennoch großen Spaß zu sehen, dass unangestrengt witzige Kinounterhaltung auch im sonst meist bierernsten Deutschland produziert
werden kann. (some pot smoking, no nudity,some
bad language) purchased at Hollywood Video
“What to do in case of Fire” (Was
tun, wenn's brennt?)
(2001) -
What To Do In
Case of Fire? tells the humorous and touching story of
six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in
Alles auf Zucker! Germany 2004
Opening 6 Jan 2005
Directed by: Dani Levy Writing credits: Holger Franke, Dani Levy
Principal actors: Henry Hübchen, Hannelore Elsner, Udo
Samel, Golda Tencer, Steffen Groth
Jaeckie Zucker
(Henry Hübchen) is a gambler in trouble. His wife
(Hannelore Elsner, who you probably know from German
TV) has threatened to divorce him and, if he cannot soon find a way to pay off
his gambling debts, he is off to jail. The last chance for the ex-East German
sports reporter is his mother's inheritance. However, there's a hitch! In order
to inherit her money, there is a stipulation in the will that Jaeckie has to make up with his estranged brother Samuel
(Udo Samel), an
orthodox Jew from
The movie was
co-funded by the television channels Arte and the WDR . It is one of the very few movies
about German Judaism that does not have the Shoah in the centre, but is a comedy
about the crazy twists and turns of fate that befall a family that finds itself
again. The two Jewish families are more symbolic of the current problems and
past tragedies of the division of
The movie was
critically acclaimed in
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/movies/09zuck.html?ex=1268024400&en=ec7545791272ea2c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt (From the New York Times) A
must read!!
R for Language, violence and
nudity
Bandits(1999)
Film Arobics,
R/PG13 Language, Nudity and
Content
Schule(2000), a new film about teenagers(like
Ferris Buhler) which I have not looked at all the way through. Heard about it
from German friends and they sent it to me on DVD Purchase in
The last three weeks of school life have begun: After the
Abitur,
Werner, Beinhart!!(2000) A great comedy
cartoon. The soccer scene at the market is
amazing!! Purchased in Germany Since the film is divided in animated and real
sequences with a tremendous difference in quality, it is very hard to cast a
vote that covers both. The animated part is hilarious (especially the
football-match) and deserves definitely 8/10 if not better. A must see!. My recommendation is: get it on DVD or Video and skip
anything that is not animation. Top
of Form
Europa, Europa(1990)
True story of a
Jewish boy who pretends to be German in the middle of Nazi Germany. 2 hours A
Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German
orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and
eventually becomes a Hitler Youth. Although improbabilities and happenstance are
cornerstones of the film, it is based upon a true
story.
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it fax:
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Best and cheapest film sources are:
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Good American Films
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Swing Kids(PG13)(1993)
In World War II