German History in the Movies
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- DirectorPeter SehrStarsAndré EisermannUdo SamelJeremy ClydeKaspar Hauser is the son of the duke of Baden. At the age of one he was swapped by another baby that has been killed right after the change. The real Kaspar Hauser grew up in prison without light, social contacts and education for more than ten years. As teenager he came to public again. First he had to learn a language and other basic skills. Before Kaspar Hauser, meanwhile well educated, found out his real idendity, he was killed.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsBruno S.Walter LadengastBrigitte MiraA young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsMartina GedeckMoritz BleibtreuJohanna WokalekA look at Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings, and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s.
- DirectorChristian SchwochowStarsCharly HübnerMilan PeschelUlrich MatthesA comic look at the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989, told from the point of view of the German border guards at the checkpoint where it all started.
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsJohn HurtJane AlexanderDoug McKeonTrue tale about two men planning to escape from communist East Germany in a hot air balloon, but only if they can take their families with them.
- DirectorBernhard WickiStarsUlrich MüheKlaus Maria BrandauerArmin Mueller-StahlUlrich Mühe plays a German businessman who was born completely without scruples. This makes him an eminently suitable candidate for success in the chaotic years after World War I. The shameless man's story is contrasted with that of his polar opposite, a Jewish anarchist.
- DirectorEgon GüntherStarsJacques BreuerEdwin NoelJürgen HoltzSet in 1904, this is an uneven tale of war and intrigue between native South Africans, German colonialists, and British colonialists, a war no one really wins.
- DirectorBerengar PfahlStarsSibel KekilliKen DukenFelicitas WollWhen their ship is sunk in the first world war, in the Indian ocean, 50 men have to cross infinite stretches of sea and desert, avoid enemies, find allies and finally make it home to Germany. A breathtaking real-live odyssey.
- DirectorLeander HaußmannStarsChristian UlmenKatja DanowskiDetlev BuckBarkeeper Frank, semi-formally called "Herr Lehmann", is part of a lethargic West Berlin-microcosm. His lifestyle is disturbed when his parents show up for a visit, things go awry with his girlfriend and his best friend acts strange.
- DirectorLeander HaußmannStarsAlexander ScheerAlexander BeyerRobert StadloberA group of kids grows up on the east side of the Sonnenallee in Berlin, right next to one of the few border crossings between East and West Germany. The antics of the people on Sonnenallee all show the absurdity of their everyday life.
- DirectorAdolf WinkelmannStarsCharly HübnerOscar BroseLina BeckmannJulian is a 12-year-old boy whose family is just scraping by in the Ruhr industrial region of Germany in the early 1960s . When his mother and younger sister go away for a while, he is left mostly alone in the apartment while his father works in the coal mine. He has to confront the confusing world of adults and older boys and the older girl next door on his own. Finally events build up and threaten to tear the family apart.
- StarsWalter RenneisenClaude-Oliver RudolphAngelika BartschSaga of a miner and his family in the Ruhr area of Western Germany in the time from the the late1800s until World War I.
- DirectorMarco KreuzpaintnerStarsDavid KrossChristian RedlDaniel BrühlA boy learns the black arts from an evil sorcerer.
- DirectorKarel ZemanStarsLudek MunzarJaroslav MouckaChristian BrücknerA young boy becomes an apprentice for a mysterious sorcerer, working at the sorcerer's strange and sinister mill where secretive black magic is being taught and performed at a very heavy price.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsMichael DegenFranziska PetriSuzanne von BorsodyIn 1933 Nuremberg, Leo Katzenberger is a successful Jewish businessman and a devoted family man. As the climate in Germany grows increasingly dangerous, bombshell Irene moves to the neighborhood and everything changes.
- DirectorCate ShortlandStarsSaskia RosendahlKai-Peter MalinaNele TrebsAs the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs. An encounter with a mysterious refugee forces Lore to rely on a person she has always been taught to hate.
- DirectorIstván SzabóStarsKlaus Maria BrandauerErland JosephsonIldikó BánságiA man's story parallels Hitler's rise. Austrian Klaus Schneider, wounded in World War I, recovers in the care of Dr. Emil Bettleheim. Bettleheim discovers that Schneider possesses powers of empathy and of clairvoyance, such that could aid suicidal patients. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name to Eric Jan Hanussen and goes to Berlin, as a hypnotist and clairvoyant performing in halls and theaters. He always speaks the truth, which brings him to the attention of powerful Nazis. He predicts their rise (good propaganda for them) and their violence (not so good). He's in pain and at risk. What is Hanussen's future?
- DirectorIstván SzabóStarsKlaus Maria BrandauerIldikó BánságiKrystyna JandaIn early-1930s Germany, a passionate stage actor faces a dilemma: renounce his apolitical stance and comply with the Reich's doctrine, or face oblivion. But, Faustian bargains never end well. What is the price of success?
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsMisel MaticevicTanja SchleiffArved BirnbaumThe poet and bon vivant Clemens Brentano no longer wants to be an artist. In hopes of becoming a better person, he turned to the Catholic religion.
- DirectorHelma Sanders-BrahmsStarsMartina GedeckPascal GreggoryMalik ZidiA look at the lives of 19th-century composers Clara and Robert Schumann.
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsGary OldmanJeroen KrabbéIsabella RosselliniThe life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Besides all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved, and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was--not easy, as Beethoven has had many women in his life.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsEd HarrisDiane KrugerMatthew GoodeA fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.
- DirectorBrigitte KirstenRalf KirstenStarsBenjamin BessonJaroslava SchallerováAndrzej KopiczynskiYoung seminary student Franziskus (Benjamin Besson) has been ceremonially ordained. He wants to escape the harshness and injustice of the world and devote himself to the service of God in the quiet seclusion of a monastery. He is also hoping to forget the beautiful lady Aurelie (Jaroslava Schallerová), whose life he saved in a flooded brook and with whom he spent an amorous night. He knows that her father would never allow her to marry him. But the devil dressed in a monk's habit and under the name Viktorin (Andrzej Kopiczynski) intervenes in Franziskus's destiny and attempts to lead him astray. To do so he first uses the diabolical elixirs kept at the monastery as a rare relic. When the young monk gets expelled from the monastery, Viktorin prepares another trap with the help of Aurelie's stepmother Euphemie (Milena Dvorská).
- DirectorJames ClavellStarsMichael CaineOmar SharifFlorinda BolkanDuring the Thirty Years' War of 1600s, a band of Protestant mercenaries peacefully coexist with German Catholic villagers in a hidden idyllic mountain valley untouched by war.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsBruno GanzAlexandra Maria LaraUlrich MatthesTraudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsUlrich MüheMartina GedeckSebastian KochIn 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
- DirectorBettina OberliStarsJulia JentschMonica BleibtreuVolker BruchOn a remote farm an entire family is murdered.
- DirectorHans DeppeCurt OertelStarsMathias WiemanMarianne HoppeAli GhitoWhen the North Sea breaks through the Friesland coast, the mysterious rider of a white horse saves people's land from the disaster.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHanna SchygullaWolfgang SchenckUlli LommelIn the nineteenth century, seventeen year old Effi Briest is married to the older Baron von Instetten and moves into a house, that she believes has a ghost, in a small isolated Baltic town. She soon bears a daughter, Annie, and hires the lapsed Catholic Roswitha to look after her. Effi is lonely when her husband is away on business, so she spends time riding and walking along the shore with Major Crampas. Instetten is promoted to Ministerial Councillor and the family moves to Berlin, where Effi enjoys the social life. Six years later, the Baron is given letters from Crampas to Effi that convince him that they had an affair. He feels obliged to challenge Crampas to a duel and banish Effi from the house.
- DirectorHermine HuntgeburthStarsJulia JentschHeike WarmuthMirko LangAmbitious German imperial hussars veteran baron Geert von Instetten takes office as coastal district administrator, hoping to e promoted to the colonies. His childhood love, Luise, married local estate owner von Briest and now arranges for their daughter, Effie, to wed the baron, rather then her beloved cousin Dagobert. In his creepy home, built and filled with exotica by an ocean captain whose Chinese servant is said to haunt it, Effie believes to meet ghosts. She starts an affair with married, swagger major von Crampas.
- StarsRichy MüllerMerab NinidzeMarc HosemannThe Berlin banker's daughter Ruth marries an impoverished baron in 1913 and turns his dilapidated estate into a flourishing cherry farm.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsAndré EisermannDana VávrováBen BeckerIn the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds. Elias falls in platonic love with Elsbeth, the sister of Peter, a neighbor's son, who has longstanding homosexual feelings towards Elias. After Elsbeth, out of frustration from Elias' not returning her love and instead being obsessed with music, chooses to be impregnated and marries someone else who lose love she had spurned for Elias. The village burns and most villagers, including Elsbeth, evacuate to the closest town. Elias remains behind. A music master with the official task to register all the organs in the country arrives at the burnt village. There he discovers Elias' prodigy and invites him to an organ challenge in the town where the villagers relocated. Elias performs there and amazes the audience which includes Elsbeth. She is unable to meet with Elias before he is rushed to a waiting carriage. She calls to him and he hears her, but it is too late. Elias is taken on a brief tour by his mentors but soon returns to his spiritual site near the burnt village where he takes his own life (with Peter by his side), having decided to not sleep anymore. Elsbeth later returns there, a widow with a young daughter, hoping to find Elias but instead discovers his spiritual site has disappeared.
- DirectorFlorian GallenbergerStarsUlrich TukurDaniel BrühlSteve BuscemiA true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
- DirectorHans-Joachim KasprzikStarsEzard HaußmannJitka MolavcováRolf HoppeAnna Constantia von Brockdorff - the Countess of Cosel - rises to become the mistress of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. After the ruler's death in 1733, his art-loving son Augustus III takes over the regency, but the actual puppet master at the court in Dresden is his influential confidant Heinrich von Brühl. A lack of political skill finally leads Saxony into the Seven Years' War, which ruins the country and dis-empowers the political leadership.
- DirectorReinhard KungelStarsPeter KlewitzPhilipp J. SpronglYvonne BroschWinter AD 1373 in southern Germany. The day-taller Konrad lost his parents and gets into the service of the knight Ekkelin Gayling. In the coming feuds and robberies he has to realize, that his ideas of chivalry don't exist any longer. Konrad and his master lose everything in their struggle for life. When Ekkelin is finally betrayed and executed, Konrad searches revenge for his master.
- StarsGabriel BarylliZdena StudenkováAndrás Fricsay Kali SonThe early Middle Ages; the 10th century. The monk Ekkehard lives secluded in the monastery of St. Gallen. Everything changes for him when the Duchess widow Hadwiga appears to him and the intelligent monk asks for a favor. She can convince the abbot to make Ekkehard work as a Latin teacher in her castle. Thus the young monk begins a new life and suddenly the young man, who always lived in seclusion, is confronted with the medieval outside world: war, hatred, poverty and disease that affect everyday life. Painful for him is that the Christian doctrine of salvation comes into conflict with the pagan elementary forces. The great challenge that awaits the young monk, however, is when he falls in love with the beautiful Countess Hadwiga herself .
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
- DirectorHeinrich BreloerStarsArmin Mueller-StahlIris BerbenJessica SchwarzIn the 1840s, Lübeck is a dominating commercial town on the Baltic coast, and the Buddenbrooks are among the town's first families. Consul Jean Buddenbrook has two sons, Thomas and Christian, and a daughter, Antonia, called Tony. He dearly loves them but also expects them to sacrifice personal happiness for the sake of the company if necessary. The first to learn this is Tony, who is married off to Hamburgian businessman Bendix Grünlich. Meanwhile, her brothers have learned the trade in Amsterdam and London respectively. Crushed by Tony's marriage disaster and several unlucky transactions, Jean Buddenbrook turns the business over to his eldest, Thomas, who marries Dutch heiress Gerda, a passionate violinist, but never forgets his first love, a flower girl. After spending time in Valparaiso, Christian also returns to Lübeck. Thomas soon learns that his brother is much more interested in the theatre and actress Aline than in the company, which causes a rift between the brothers. Seeing that she can't heal it, their mother admonishes them to at least conceal it from the public.
- DirectorRüdiger NüchternStarsSebastian KochAglaia SzyszkowitzFritz KarlJacob Hirzbacher is a widower who hopes to find work in the local mining industry. With the arrival of a stranger with a charming attitude the hierarchy in the nearest village changes forever.
- DirectorMarcus H. RosenmüllerStarsSebastian BezzelMichael A. GrimmSimon SchwarzThe carpennter Gamser from Garmisch-Patenkirchen, southern Germany, aims at success as a bobber at the Winter Olympics 1952. One of his opponents is his old rival Dorfler from his home country.
- DirectorPhilipp StölzlStarsBenno FürmannFlorian LukasJohanna WokalekA secretary at a Berlin newspaper in 1936 gets to write about two Alpinists, as she knows them well. She later gets to report on and photograph her friends' and other Alpinists' climbs of the dangerous Swiss Eiger north face.
- DirectorMarc RothemundStarsJulia JentschFabian HinrichsAlexander HeldA dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
- DirectorMichael VerhoevenStarsLena StolzeMartin BenrathWulf KesslerDuring the Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to question the decisions 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 provocative speech. At this point, the matter is taken over by the Gestapo, who pledge to hunt down and destroy the members of the White Rose.
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsKatja RiemannMaria SchraderSvea LohdeAfter the death of her father, Hannah becomes concerned with the strange behavior of her mother. As her mother's troubled childhood is revealed, Hannah realizes how little she ever knew.
- DirectorKaspar HeidelbachStarsKaroline HerfurthSebastian UrzendowskyAxel PrahlIn the days leading up to the 1936 Olympics, the fate of high jumper Gretel Bergmann hangs in the balance as it is decided whether or not a Jewish athlete can be a part of the German Olympic team.
- CreatorAnnette HessStarsSonja GerhardtClaudia MichelsenMaria EhrichGenerations clash when the feisty daughter of a dance studio owner defies her mother's wishes and embraces the fight for gender equality in 1950s Berlin.
- DirectorVincent PerezStarsLouis HofmannEmil von SchönfelsKatrin PollittAfter a Nazi German working class couple loses their son in World War II, they decide to retaliate by secretly leafletting handwritten cards in Berlin denouncing their government.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsKai WiesingerValerie NiehausHeiner LauterbachGerman film loosely based on the sinking, by a Soviet submarine, of a Nazi troop-transport ship in the Baltic Sea on January 30th 1945.
- DirectorManfred StelzerStarsOttfried FischerRalf RichterMonika BaumgartnerEvery year a lot of German people prepare to spent their holidays in the sunny south. And all of them have to use the same motor ways. And every year all comes to an end in a big jam.
- DirectorPeter TimmStarsWolfgang StumphClaudia SchmutzlerMarie GruberFamily Struutz lives in Bitterfeld (GDR). After the fall of the wall, they take the opportunity to go on holiday with their car, an old Trabant. They simply want to visit Italy. But there are some incidents during their journey.
- DirectorWolfgang BüldReinhard KloossStarsWolfgang StumphMarie GruberClaudia SchmutzlerThe Struutz family return from holidays after the fall of the Berlin Wall to find their home being bulldozed to make way for a golf course. It gets worse when Udo inherits a nearly-bankrupt garden gnome factory.
- DirectorWolf GremmStarsPeter SattmannErika PluharMalte ThorstenAn equally despotic, ostentatious, and lavishly-living sovereign indiscriminately drives innocent peasant sons directly from the fields where they are working to sell them for a mercenary bounty to America.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsBen BeckerHeino FerchUlrich NoethenThe film chronicles the rise and fall of Germany's most famous a capella group, the Comedian Harmonists, in 1930s Germany.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDana VávrováWerner StockerIvana ChýlkováFelix Zeiler doesn't return after the end of World War II. His wife - alone with 2 little children - meets Hans and they are slowly getting closer.
- DirectorRadu GabreaStarsWerner StockerDana VávrováDominique SandaThe ex-gymnast and survival artist Emil (Werner Stocker) falls in love with the prostitute Lissy (Dana Vávrová). Through her he meets some criminals whom he can help thanks to his gymnastic skills. But on his rise in the criminal hierarchy, Lissy might fall by the wayside.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDana VávrováWerner StockerClaude-Oliver RudolphThis cinematic adaptation of the autobiography of Anna Wimschneider depicts her life's experiences and workaday routines as a woman born on a farm in lower Bavaria, Germany in the 1920s. Anna's mother died young in childbirth and Anna had to take her place and work very hard. At a Nazi rally she meets young Albert, who owns a farm. They realize that they both don't believe in fascism and go to a coffee bar where he starts wooing her. Against her prior decision to leave farm life as soon as possible, she agrees to marry him, hoping that her life will become easier on Albert's farm.
- DirectorJo BaierStarsAnica DobraKarl TesslerJosef Bierbichler
- DirectorNiko von GlasowStarsIvan StebunovBela B.Jochen NickelCologne-Ehrenfeld, November 1944. They're young, wild and rebellious, like young people anywhere and in any time, but working-class boys Karl and his younger brother Peter are Edelweiss Pirates. They oppose the Nazis, and are pursued by the Gestapo. With the escaped concentration camp prisoner Hans Steinbrück, they plan acts of sabotage, until the Gestapo take them on with their full might. When they're arrested, Karl is torn between his will to survive, his feelings of responsibility, his love for his brother, and his loyalty to the Edelweiss Pirates.
- DirectorPaul AlmondStarsGeneviève BujoldMichael YorkBurgess MeredithNicole is a broadcast journalist in Canada who is working on an assignment in the U.S.S.R. She is to oversee a visit by the prime minister but she finds a unethical experiment on children using the use of steroids.
- DirectorNina GrosseStarsMartin FeifelMarianne DenicourtUlrich MüheFilm about the German poet Friedrich Hoelderlin (1770-1843), concentrating on his ardent affair with Susette Gondard.
- DirectorEgon GüntherStarsVeronica FerresHerbert KnaupSibylle CanonicaThe relationship between Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great German writer, and Christiane Vulpius, a village girl, is one of the instantaneous and fiery passion. They lived together for 28 years, 18 of these living in sin, 10 a married couple. Christiane's rival, Charlotte von Stein, a former favorite of Goethe, begins plotting and scheming against her. Christiane puts up with countless insults and humiliations like having to 'disappear' with their son into the servants' quarters and to stay at home on official occasions. Goethe marries her when she saves his life during an attack by plundering Napoleonic soldiers. Her new social position as Goethe's wife is resented and envied by all. When she is openly attacked by the snooty, jealous people, Goethe is only half-hearted in coming to her defence. But she stays with him for he is her great love, even when she turns to the charms of many youthful admirers...
- DirectorMartin WeinhartStarsMatthias SchweighöferTeresa WeißbachRobert DölleYoung poet Friedrich Schiller flees from the elite academy of Prince Carl Eugen to become an acclaimed theater writer in Mannheim. But the influence of Carl Eugen reaches farther than Schiller thought.
- DirectorGernot RollStarsBen BeckerAlexandra Maria LaraAugust ZirnerPrussian general's son Friedrich, Freiherr (German baron) von der Trenck, is an unruly student whose countless affairs make him enemies, but he wins every duel. Frederic II the Great recruits him for his personal bodyguard. During his cadet training under the cruel stickler Graf (count) von Jaschinsky Friedrich falls in love with the king's headstrong oldest sister Amalia. She, however, refuses to be married off the the Swedish king's heir. When Prussia makes war on Austria over Silesia, Trenck's loyalty is dubious on account of an Austrian family branch. Janischky eagerly convinces the king there is more.
- DirectorPhilipp StölzlStarsAlexander FehlingMiriam SteinMoritz BleibtreuAfter aspiring poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fails his law exams, he's sent to a sleepy provincial court to reform. Instead, he falls for Lotte, a young woman who is promised to another man.
- DirectorGiulio RicciarelliStarsAndré SzymanskiAlexander FehlingFriederike BechtA story that exposes the conspiracy of prominent German institutions and government branches to cover up the crimes of Nazis during World War II.
- 1973– 6 eps8.4 (85)TV Mini Series
- 1975– 4 eps8.3 (95)TV Mini SeriesStarsMatthias HabichHerbert TiedeChristian QuadfliegThe idyllic life of the simple-minded Simplicius Simplizissimus is destroyed with the outbreak of the Thirty Years War, leading him on an adventurous journey.
- DirectorUrs EggerStarsMark WaschkePaulus MankerAlexander HeldBamberg 1630. The era of witch-hunting. The surgeon professor Cornelius (Mark Waschke) returns from Vienna, where he is a renowned physician, to his homeland. He is soon forced to face the show trial of witches and appraise, as medical expert, the methods of Commissioner Mr. Berger (devilish Axel Milberg). Cornelius feels his blood churning inside when he is ordered to stay in the city. Snow in June, crop failures, the Catholic Church is worried about those obvious signs of the Devil's presence in the Reformation and its growing power. Rumors start wafting through the city of important people tempted by the Evil. Eventually the first alleged witches come in detention. Who wants to get rid of someone or hurt him, simply accuses him of being a magician or witch. One day the pyre threatens his childhood sweetheart Johanna (Silke Bender). Cornelius plots with bold city councils against the arbitrariness of the church and the fanaticism of Bamberg's authorities. He tries by all means to save Johanna. But the hunt continues unabated. More and more pyres burn. The Church - Alexander Held convinced as auxiliary bishop and chief ideologue of the fanatical pursuit - plays their power mercilessly. At the cruel Maleficent Chamber, Mr. Berger is the wily witch Commissioner. He benefits greatly with the witch processes, because the legacy of the condemned flows to the Church coffers. Cornelius escapes Bamberg and presents the case before the emperor in Vienna. Can he convince him to put an end to the horrific events in Bamberg? But how can Cornelius enforce the law and order in time to save Johanna?
- StarsChristoph WaltzMario AdorfDeborah KaufmannThe 1530s. Many are convinced that the Day of Judgement is at hand. A protest movement is making the heart of Europe beat faster and louder: it is a protest against the dissipation of the Catholic clergy, but also against the religious remedies prescibed by Lutheranism. The Anabaptist movement preaches the second coming and prophesies that all enemies of the "true faith" will "drown in rivers of blood". All those, however, who renounce the devil are promised both earthly and heavenly happiness in a "new Jerusalem". When the Anabaptist doctrine overtakes the flourishing town of Münster ("the pearl of Westphalia") and the town's Catholics are either driven out or forced to live in a ghetto, the newly-elected Prince-Bishop of Münster and Osnabrück, Count Franz Waldeck, decides to take fiercer action against what he sees as the "Anabaptist scourge"; anyone who lets themselves be rebaptized in his diocese, whether male or female, is to be hanged from the nearest tree. Sebastian Kien, a vagrant travelling actor (actually quite similar in nature and temperament to François Villon) uses a mixture of cunning and deceit to save a young girl from being hanged. Since the girl, Engele Kerkerinck, has lost her entire family, Sebastian takes her under his wing, gives her the courage to carry on living, and says he will teach her how to sing and to dance. Engele, however, wants to go to Münster where the legendary Jan van Leyden, an Anabaptist, is preaching, and to whose sermons Catholics and Protestants alike - and women in particular - are flocking. Engele, too, is under the spell of this man, and mesmerised by his stature, his fire, his powerful words and his charisma. Sebastian Kien recognises an old friend in Jan van Leyden: the latter is none other than the actor and pimp Jan Bockelson, with whom he used to make the same kind of living (often a pathetic one) that he still does now. A rapturous reunion ensues. Bockelson wants his old friend to join forces with him and predicts a glorious future for himself: "One day I'll be King of Münster!" But resistance from those Catholics who still remain in Münster has not yet been fully overcome. The prosperous burghers still distrust the man who preaches poverty and renunciation while stashing his own coffers with money and jewellery. Bockelson overcomes a crisis of confidence in his abilities, sparked off by the town council, by asking a famous prophet known as Jan Matthys to come to the town's assistance. Sebastian Kien is given instructions to turn the prophet's arrival into an occasion of popular celebration. After an almost supernatural piece of stage direction, Bockelson succeeds in winning the hearts of the townsfolk once more, little realising that the prophet's arrival in Münster means that he is about to be inexorably caught up in a rapid succession of events. The reason for this is Divara, Jan Matthys' wife. She and Bockelson seem to recognise one another as kindred spirits from their very first meeting: both are held in the sway of a powerful mutual fascination. Divara sees the future potential of the young, beaming Bockelson, and considers him far more promising than the already ageing Jan Matthys who, plagued by self-doubt, is falling prey to alcoholism. Divara, attractive, desirable and very self-confident, uses all the weapons a woman possesses. She provokes Jan Bockelson into killing the Catholics' leader, Trutelink, and accuses her husband of weakness, urging him to practice what he preaches and to go and prove his mettle against the Prince-Bishop. Fully aware of what is going on, and in the knowledge that his days are numbered, Jan Matthys rides off into a trap carefully prepared by Tom Korteboldt, a double agent in the pay of both sides. Jan Matthys dies with a prophecy upon his lips: "In three days' time I shall be resurrected from the dead!" When this prophecy is not fulfilled, Jan Bockelson faces yet another crisis of confidence. At the very last moment Divara manages to stop the mayor, Knipperdolling, and the rest of the town council from accepting the Prince-Bishop's offer of negotiation in return for surrendering the town without a fight. And once again Sebastian Kien is faced with having to help his old friend out of a dilemma. Engele persuades him to do so. Sebastian stages a supernatural event - the arrival of an angel - for the credulous and astonished townspeople, and thus restores his friend's charisma. Divara makes use of the townspeople's credulity to tie things up once and for all. She ensures that Jan Bockelson, favoured by the Lord, becomes "King of Münster", while she herself takes over the role of Queen. Engele has long since fallen prey to her fascination for Bockelson. She is endured as the King's mistress by Divara, who sees the girl as next to no competition; indeed, she even sees her as strengthening her position. Sebastian Kien decides he wants to leave the town. His concern for Engele developed into affection, and affection has now turned into love - a very different kind of love, though, than that practised by his former friend Bockelson. Out of concern for Engele, Sebastian remains in the town - also, perhaps, because he is still hoping that she will come back to him. From now on Bockelson surrenders to his own personal whims and delights, cloaking it all in the guise of "divine inspiration". When Clarissa, the daughter of mayor Knipperdolling, and the last Catholic in Münster, is discovered hiding in a well-shaft, Bockelson orders her father - whom he has appointed the kingdom's chief executioner - to behead his own daughter. Bockelson's sudden decision to humiliate the intractably Catholic Clarissa still further, rather than just kill her outright, saves the girl's life. The King of Münster makes the mayor's daughter his courtesan, and shortly afterwards has polygamy and free love announced as a tenet of the Anabaptist faith. Münster celebrates this new edict with an orgy. The siege of Münster by the Prince-Bishop has now been going on for over a year. The town is riddled with disease and starvation. The townspeople scratch moss off the stones in the graveyards to fill their bellies, women scrape plaster off the frescoes in the church to make "milk" for their children. The cholera victims are tipped unceremoniously over the town wall. Divara is aware of the danger and she takes decisive action. She promises the town council "help and salvation" within three days. And, as a pledge, she promises that "the King will burn if the prophecy is not fulfilled". Panic-stricken, Bockelson seeks the advice and support of his friend Sebastian, whom he has thrown into prison. Yet again, it is an idea of Sebastian Kien's that allows Bockelson to extricate himself from the affair. He sees his chance in the double meaning of the verb "to burn". At a ceremony which the preacher Rottmann turns into a religious ceremony, Bockelson not only burns the books written by his religious rivals but also the last Catholic in Münster, Clarissa Knipperdolling, who refuses to renounce her faith. The crowd's enthusiasm is boundless. This first human sacrifice is soon to be followed by a second. Engele beseeches Bockelson in vain to spare the life of Sebastian Kien, whom Bockelson now regards as his most dangerous rival. For Kien knows the truth about Bockelson's past life - and he screams it into the face of the man who calls himself "the messenger of the Lord". At first, the townspeople, who have rushed enthusiastically to the Prinzipalmarkt to watch Sebastian Kien's execution, seem stunned. But then Rottmann the preacher puts on his most successful performance so far: he turns Kien's accusations upside down by treating them as proof of divine long-sightedness and mercy, and in doing so succeeds in winning the crowd's approval. And as if to prove his magnanimity and humanity, Bockelson answers Engele's prayers: he sets his friend free. Prince-Bishop Waldeck, unswerving in his faith and unbending in his desire to recapture Münster for his own, makes one final attempt to go down as magnanimous and merciful in the history books. He decides to defeat his enemies - who have used the word of God to take over the town - by the word of God too. In a magnificent display of religious pomp, he stands face to face with the "latter-day King", and reads him the parable of the lost sheep from the bible. Bockelson, seeing his followers already on their knees before the cross of Catholicism, manages at the very last moment to stop the Anabaptists from capitulating. Waldeck and his followers are then forced to realise just how much power Jan Bockelson has over the people of Münster: the Prince-Bishop's carefully staged entreaty is mockingly answered by a phalanx of naked Anabaptist buttocks along the town battlements. Waldeck gives the order to attack. That night, in the year 1535, Münster drowns in a sea of rain and blood. When the sun comes up again, the town is in the hands of the Prince-Bishop. Waldeck meets an enemy who shows no remorse or submissiveness. Even as a prisoner, Bockelson is condescending and full of scorn. Not one word of regret about what he has done. Bockelson senses that God is on his side - in the struggle against the corruption of the authorities. Count Waldeck and his followers prepare the punishment rite. It is to be an occasion of great magnificence: a public execution that will remain etched in popular memory for generations, demonstrating the victory of the righteous and God-fearing over all that is evil. Divara, whom Waldeck finds very attractive, turns down the Prince-Bishop's offer to make her his mistress by committing suicide. All the anger and hatred the victors have left is now concentrated on one man: Bockelson. Bockelson is interrogated, and tortured eight times - all in vain. He is unyielding, even under pain. He impresses his inquisitors by quoting Thomas Aquinas, and uttering obscene jokes dating from his days as a pimp and innkeeper at the "Three Herrings" in Leyden. Bockelson, Mayor Knipperdolling and Chancellor Krechting are placed in three cages and put on display in front of the curious crowd. Looking at them costs one pfennig. Touching them costs one pfennig extra. Then there is the final wordless meeting between Bockelson and Engele, who prays to God to grant him a merciful death. It is the night of the condemned Bockelson's last meal, to which he has invited his "friend" Sebastian: the "latter-day King" uses up all his actor's talents to put on a show of pride and dignity. He, Knipperdolling and Krechting are to be hung in their cages high up on the Lambertikirche, and Bockelson's last wish is to be hung higher than the other two. The execution has all the trappings of a festival, especially for those who have long since returned to their original belief. The executioners, it has been decided, will slowly torture Bockelson to death with red-hot pincers. Bockelson knows about this because Sebastian has already told him, but he has also prophesied to Sebastian that he will neither groan nor scream - though he might just hum and sing... Sebastian Kien follows the progress of the event from some distance away. He has resolved to applaud and to shout with relief as Bockelson is slowly tortured to death. He sees the glowing pincers, hears the hiss of burning flesh and then, very quietly: he hears Bockelson singing a song, one that they used to sing together in the old days. Sebastian Kien does Jan Bockelson a final service. He rushes towards the tribune, past the executioners, and stabs Bockelson twice with a knife. The first time he misses the heart, but the second time he makes no mistake. Together, on the covered wagon they arrived in, Sebastian and Engele leave the town that has kept them like prisoners for 16 months. Engele confesses to Sebastian that she is expecting a baby - Bockelson's baby. "I'll teach him to dance and sing and write poetry", says Sebastian. "Can you be a comedian and sing and dance without believing in God...?" asks Engele. Sebastian: "You can..." "Why do people dance, then...?" asks Engele - and receives no reply...
- StarsVolker BruchTom SchillingKatharina SchüttlerFive friends go out to war and promise each other to be back for Christmas.
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- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
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- DirectorJorgo PapavassiliouStarsBenno FürmannGötz GeorgeNadja UhlFebruary 16, 1962. A huge hurricane is brewing over the Atlantic, flooding large parts of the North Sea coast. Even in Hamburg, 100 km away, the storm reaches such a power that some parts are flooded.
- DirectorBenjamin QuabeckStarsTom SchillingRobert StadloberJessica SchwarzThe year is 1981, the German New Wave is at the peak. Harry, otherwise Sparkasse trainee, wants to make it big as a manager of the band of his friends, Apollo Schwabing. He has booked the band as the opening act for a concert where the group DAF are the headliners.
- DirectorJörg GrünlerStarsVeronica FerresThando WalbaumPetra KellingThis drama is based on the childhood memories of Hans Jürgen Massaquoi, who was one of the few black native Germans in Nazi Germany. In 1935 at the age of nine, he lives with his German mother in a small flat in Hamburg's working class district Barmbek, while his father and grandfather had left the country. Although the boy is not persecuted by the Nazis and dreams of joining the Hitler Youth, his skin color makes him a target for racism.
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- DirectorEric TillStarsJoseph FiennesBruno GanzPeter UstinovDuring the early sixteenth century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the Catholic Church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.
- StarsJosefine PreußHeino FerchMarie BäumerThe mini-series follows the construction and history of the famous Adlon hotel in Berlin, as seen through the eyes of Sonja Schadt, the youngest member of the wealthy fictional Schadt family who are friends with the Adlons.
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- CreatorOle BornedalStarsPilou AsbækSarah-Sofie BoussninaBent MejdingWhen Prussia and Austria declare war on Denmark, two brothers are called to serve in the bloodiest battle in Denmark's history.
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- DirectorLars KraumeStarsBurghart KlaußnerRonald ZehrfeldLilith StangenbergThe story of the man who brought high-ranking German Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann to justice.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMillie PerkinsShelley WintersJoseph SchildkrautDuring World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
- DirectorHans SteinbichlerStarsLea van AckenMartina GedeckUlrich NoethenDuring World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
- DirectorStephan WagnerStarsUlrich NoethenDavid KrossBernhard SchützIts 1959. German Public Prosecutor Bauer is convinced he has found the long sought Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. This tense drama shows his struggle to have him brought to justice against the power jielded by old Nazi functionaries in the West German power structure and suspicions of being an East German spy.