German Cinema
The devastation of World War One left Germany's budding film industry, like much of Europe, in tatters. But necessity being the mother of invention, German Expressionism was born. Relying heavily on symbolism and shadow rather than elaborate and costly sets, films like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' are still studied by film students the world over. By the mid-1920s, the industry was getting back on its feet and great directors like Fritz Lang and FW Murnau were making their early masterpieces. However the onset of Nazism and the impending war led many of Germany's artists, including filmmakers, to flee to the U.S. Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Douglas Sirk, Karl Freund and many more all continued their careers in America while the German film industry virtually disappeared. It was not unitl the '60s and '70s that new talents emerged. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Viktor Schlondorff and Wim Wenders revitalised German cinema and today international hits such as 'Run Lola Run' and 'Goodbye Lenin!' assure us it is here to stay.
Right: 'Run Lola Run'
Klitschko (2011)
7.8/10
Director: Sebastian Dehnhardt
Documentary filmmaker Sebastian Dehnhardt offers an intimate look into the lives of Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, two sibling boxers from the Ukraine... Read more
Die Nibelungen ( Siegfried / Kriemhild's Revenge ) (1924)
6.6/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Hanna Ralph, Margarete Schon, Paul Richter, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
One of the greatest artistic and technical achievements of the German silent cinema, Fritz Lang's monumental saga is a passionate retelling of Nordic... Read more
Downfall (2005)
8.2/10
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Ulrich Matthers, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Ju...
Bruno Ganz is rivetting as the mad dictator during his final days in the Berlin Bunker. But director Hirschbiegel understands that evil does not exis... Read more
Das Boot ( aka The Boat ) ( Blu-ray ) (1981)
8.4/10
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Herbert Gronemeyer, Jurgen Prochnow, Klaus Wennemann
A.k.a. 'The Boat.' Totally restored and with over an hour of never-before-seen footage, Das Boot: The Director's Cut is Wolfgang Petersen's acclaimed... Read more
Downfall (Blu-ray) (2005)
8.2/10
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Thomas Kretschmann, Ulrich Matthers, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Ju...
Bruno Ganz is rivetting as the mad dictator during his final days in the Berlin Bunker. But director Hirschbiegel understands that evil does not exis... Read more
Tartuffe (1926)
7.3/10
Director: F W Murnau
Starring: Hermann Picha, Rosa Valetti, Lil Dagover, Werner Krauss, Emil Jannings
Famous German filmmaker FW Murnau's interpretation of Moliere's satirical play about a devious housekeeper who convinces her master to cut his son out... Read more
Next Door (2021)
7/10
Director: Daniel Brühl
Starring: Daniel Bruhl, Peter Kurth
Explores the subjects of gentrification and social inequality in Berlin. Read more
A Stasi Comedy (2022)
Starring: David Kross
After falling in love with the Nathalie and sleeping with his first target, Corinna, Ludger ends up living two lives - one as an underground poet and... Read more
The American Friend (1977)
7.4/10
Director: Wim Wenders
Starring: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Sam Fuller
Using Patricia Highsmith's novel, 'Ripley's Game', Wenders has made a spellbinding existential thriller which moves from the docks of Hamburg to the s... Read more
The Conference (2022)
7.3/10
Director: Matti Geschonneck
On January 20, 1942, leading representatives of the German Nazi regime met in a villa in Berlin-Wannsee for a meeting that went down in history as the... Read more