German Movie Gems
by benedikt-entner | created - 01 Dec 2014 | updated - 20 May 2018 | PublicA list of my favorite german movies
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1. The Counterfeiters (2007)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, History
The story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach
Votes: 47,163 | Gross: $5.48M
Holocaust drama, based on a true story 2008 Oscar "Best Foreign Language Film"
2. Run Lola Run (1998)
R | 80 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri
Votes: 206,844 | Gross: $7.27M
Crime-Thriller mixed with butterfly effect One event - three different outcomes
3. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
A 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.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 264,117 | Gross: $11.49M
Epic submarine thriller, based on true events in the WW2
4. Downfall (2004)
R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History
Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler
Votes: 374,911 | Gross: $5.51M
War Drama Realistic portrayal of Hitler's final ten days in his bunker
5. Christiane F. (1981)
R | 138 min | Biography, Drama
A teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Natja Brunckhorst, Eberhard Auriga, Peggy Bussieck, Lothar Chamski
Votes: 29,344
Realistic portray of the Berlin drug scene, based on a true story
6. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 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.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,102 | Gross: $11.29M
Drama, about the secret police in East Germany 2007 Oscar "Best Foreign Language Film
7. The Bridge (1959)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.
Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Volker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht
Votes: 8,640
Anti-war film, based on real events in WW2
8. Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
Director: Wolfgang Becker | Stars: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, Florian Lukas
Votes: 152,556 | Gross: $4.06M
Tragicomedy About life in East Germany, after and before the fall of the Berlin Wall
9. Head-On (2004)
R | 121 min | Drama, Romance
With the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.
Director: Fatih Akin | Stars: Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Güven Kiraç, Zarah Jane McKenzie
Votes: 57,619
German-turkish Drama film about suicide and love
10. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,465 | Gross: $5.58M
Polnish-german historical drama The story of a communist jew in the Hitler Youth, based on a true story
11. The Name of the Rose (1986)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin
Votes: 117,118 | Gross: $7.15M
French-italian-german co-production Medieval mystery crime movie
12. Lammbock (2001)
Not Rated | 93 min | Comedy, Crime
Stefan and Kai have good going business, self-grown cannabis screened as pizza delivering service. For now they only have to deal with aphids.
Director: Christian Zübert | Stars: Lucas Gregorowicz, Moritz Bleibtreu, Marie Zielcke, Julian Weigend
Votes: 11,864
Stoner Comedy
13. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro
Votes: 62,202
Adventure movie about the spanish Conquistadors
14. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,732
Surrealistic Black Comedy, settled before and during the Third Reich 1980 Oscar "Best Foreign Language Film"
15. Berlin Blues (2003)
105 min | Comedy, Drama
Barkeeper 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.
Director: Leander Haußmann | Stars: Christian Ulmen, Katja Danowski, Detlev Buck, Janek Rieke
Votes: 7,625
Comedy/Drama Berlin's (night)life just days before the Fall of the Berlin Wall
16. Eight Miles High (2007)
Unrated | 114 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Uschi Obermeier, a German cover model from the 1960s who embodied the dreams of the hippie generation - joins a commune, begins a modelling career, meets rock stars, and travels the world in a bus, enjoying love, drugs and freedom.
Director: Akiz | Stars: Natalia Avelon, Matthias Schweighöfer, David Scheller, Friederike Kempter
Votes: 3,027
The story of Uschi Obermayer, hippie girl and german groupie, who had sexual relations with Mick Jagger, Keith Richard and Jimi Hendrix, based on a true story
17. Grave Decisions (2006)
104 min | Comedy, Drama
Sebastian, an 11-year-old Bavarian boy, feels responsible for his mother's death, who died during his birth, and naively attempts multiple ways to reach immortality (procreation, reincarnation, sanctification) to prevent his tenure in hell
Director: Marcus H. Rosenmüller | Stars: Markus Krojer, Fritz Karl, Jürgen Tonkel, Jule Ronstedt
Votes: 5,668
Comedy, the delightful story about an 11 years old boy in Bavaria
18. The Edge of Heaven (2007)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama
A Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.
Director: Fatih Akin | Stars: Baki Davrak, Gürsoy Gemec, Cengiz Daner, Tuncel Kurtiz
Votes: 33,501 | Gross: $0.74M
German-turkish drama about faith, love and destiny
19. Beyond Silence (1996)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama, Music
Since the earliest days in her childhood Lara has had a difficult but important task. Both her parents are deaf-mute and Lara has to translate from sign-language to the spoken word and vice... See full summary »
Director: Caroline Link | Stars: Sylvie Testud, Tatjana Trieb, Howie Seago, Emmanuelle Laborit
Votes: 4,585 | Gross: $0.17M
Drama, about the daugther of deaf parents who discovers the world of music
20. India (1993)
90 min | Comedy, Drama
Heinzi Boesel and Kurt Fellner are two Austrian health inspectors forced to work together, traveling through Austria. Over time a beautiful friendship evolves between the odd couple who ... See full summary »
Director: Paul Harather | Stars: Josef Hader, Alfred Dorfer, Maria Hofstätter, Roger Murbach
Votes: 3,088
Tragicomedy and road movie
21. The White Ribbon (2009)
R | 144 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 77,577 | Gross: $2.22M
Drama, about life in 1910s in Germany
22. The Miracle of Bern (2003)
118 min | Drama, Sport
A young boy from a working class family in post-war Germany struggles with his estranged father returning from war captivity, while a friend of his plays for the German National Soccer Team at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland.
Director: Sönke Wortmann | Stars: Louis Klamroth, Peter Lohmeyer, Johanna Gastdorf, Lucas Gregorowicz
Votes: 7,471
Movie about the post-war era in Germany and the unexpected West German miracle victory in the 1954 World Cup Final
23. The Ninth Day (2004)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A drama loosely based on Jean Bernard's Nazi-era prison diary.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate, Bibiana Beglau
Votes: 1,948 | Gross: $0.07M
Historical Holocaust Drama about a priest imprisoned in KZ, based loosly on a real story
24. Hinterholz 8 (1998)
90 min | Comedy
Herbert Krcal lives with his wife and son in a small apartment in Vienna. He dreams of owning his own house but houses are expensive. During a walk in the woods, he finds an old run-down ... See full summary »
Director: Harald Sicheritz | Stars: Roland Düringer, Nina Proll, Rudolf Rohaczek, Wolfgang Böck
Votes: 1,367
One of Austrians finest comedies.
25. Vincent Wants to Sea (2010)
Unrated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A young man suffering from Tourette's syndrome absconds from an institution with two other inhabitants to travel to Italy to fulfill his mother's last wish.
Director: Ralf Huettner | Stars: Florian David Fitz, Karoline Herfurth, Heino Ferch, Katharina Müller-Elmau
Votes: 5,997
Delightful Tragicomedy with profound acting
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