Aimée & Jaguar
This war drama/romance takes place in Berlin, late in World War II and is based on a true story. The two main characters are Lilly Wust (AKA Aimée) and Felice Schragenheim (Jaguar). Lilly is a…
Die dritte Generation
This 1979 crime drama, directed by the controversial Rainer Werner Fassbinder, focuses on capitalist gain during times of political uncertainty. As a contemporary of Werner Herzog, Fassbinder was also known to have deep concepts as…
Gespensterjäger
Cornelia Funke doesn’t usually allow her books to have film versions using German studios, as she prefers the Hollywood style, so this 2015 family-friendly adventure comedy is a special treat for us German-speaking fans! Comedy…
Trautmann
Rated 12 and up in Germany, this 2018 war drama is a UK/Germany production and as such the language does not always match the lips when played in German. (They opted to dub the English…
Joy
This 2018 Austrian film is available on Netflix. It is a drama, rated at TV-MA. This film is mostly in English and German – all languages beyond German are subtitled I’m to German. It shows…
Sarajevo
This 2014 historical drama centers around the events that led to WWI. It is an Austrian film and I have to be honest – I was in one of the cities where and when they…
Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse
This 2018 drama-comedy is a Netflix film centers around orthodox Jewish tradition and a young man’s decision to turn away from his family’s orthodox religious lifestyle. Joel Basman is our main character. Born in Switzerland,…
Das System Milch
This 2017 documentary is currently available on Netflix. It is rated TV-14. This film holds a critical look at the milk production economy around the world. There are a few different languages included in this,…
Herbert
This 2015 drama is currently available on Netflix. Our star is Peter Kurth, whom we may recognize from Goodbye Lenin, Babylon Berlin, and Ein Freund von mir. He plays a former East German boxer, now…
Schubert in Love: Vater werden ist (nicht) schwer
This 2016 comedy is currently available on Netflix. Olaf Schubert plays himself, kind of. Fans of German stand up and other such comedy may recognize him. His father is played by Mario Adorf, a Swiss-born…
Blood Red Sky
This 2021 Netflix film is marketed as an action/horror/thriller and is currently rated #2 in the US market! This film uses a variety of languages for the full global effect this film calls for, but…
Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.
This 2014 social drama is available on Netflix. It covers the events of 1992 in Rostock, during which xenophobic riots attacked Vietnamese refugees. Using a variety of film art techniques, this film can be analyzed…
Isa & Ossi
Rated TV-MA, this Netflix film from 2020 is a rom-com. It’s pretty much a typical rich girl, poor boy story, really. Isi is played by Lisa Vicari, who we may recognize from Dark. Ossi is…
Das Wunder von Bern
This 2003 Sönke Wortmann and Rochus Hahn film is already a staple in many German classrooms. Teachers cite the slow pace and focus on soccer and family as top reasons to show this in class.…
Störtebeker
This 2006 film in two parts is an adventure film with a theme of pirates in the 14th century. It is split into two parts, each an hour and a half long. Parts of this…
Willkommen bei den Hartmanns
This 2016 Drama-Comedy is already well-known by German teachers across the states. With a central theme of immigration, this film lends itself well to the topics our advanced students are expected to be able to…
Speechless
This 2016 short film is currently available on Amazon Prime. It features Heike Makatsch, who we know from films such as Hui Buh, Tom Sawyer, Anatomy 2, and even Love Actually. Not actually in German…
Bibi und Tina
The 2014 film is the first in a series of four musical-style films dating through 2017. All are part of the Bibi Blocksberg storylines, but take place when Bibi is a teenager. This post will…
Steiner – Das eiserne Kreuz, 2. Teil
Although this 1979 film is originally in German, English, and French, carries an original German title, was produced in West Germany, and stars several German speaking actors, it is obvious with the dubbing quality that…
Judgement at Nuremberg
This 1961 U.S. film covers the trials of the war crimes of WWII. This film is originally in English. The German dubbing is – shall we say tolerable, especially given the release year. Featuring Spencer…
Jerry Cotton
This 2010 comedy is a parody of crime movies such as Bond films, centered in the FBI. Think Johnny English. The most famous faces we see may be Christian Tramitz, Christiane Paul, Moritz Bleibtreu, Heino…
Nirgendwo in Afrika
Released in 2001, this film centers around a Jewish family that must leave 1930s Germany, settling in Kenya. Interestingly, the actress who plays Jettel, Juliane Köhler, also played Eva Braun in Der Untergang. Her husband…
M
Fritz Lang’s 1931 mystery/criminal thriller is among the final films he directed before leaving his wife, screenwriter Thea von Harbou, who became a member of the Nazi party in 1932, and emigrating to the U.S.…
In Tranzit
This 2008 movie was filmed in English in Russia. It was released directly to DVD, and considerably earlier in Russia than anywhere else. The film takes place in 1946 and follows German prisoners of war…
Spione
This 1928 film directed by Fritz Lang is marketed as a romance-thriller. The music does a good job keeping the thriller feeling, even 90 years later. The leading lady Sonja was played by Gerda Maurus,…
Nosferatu Phantom der Nacht (1979)
This Werner Herzog version of the classic 1922 Nosferatu (or, better stated, of Bram Stoker’s Dracula) features Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula. Lucy Harker in this version is played by the Paris-born actress Isabelle Adjani.…
Murder on the Bridge
This version of Dürrenmatt’s Der Richter und sein Henker, released in 1975, features Jon Voigt and Jacqueline Bisset. The original language is English, but the German dubbing is logical for the setting. The main character…
Amen.
This international collaboration was originally filmed in English, French, Italian, and German. It appears to play automatically in the originally filmed languages, switching from German to English with no other reason beyond the actors’ languages…
In the Presence of Mine Enemies
This 1997 TV Movie takes place in 1942 in the ghetto in Warsaw. German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl joins an international cast (Americans, Canadians, Romanians…) in this US production, which is rated PG-13. This is a…
Lili Marleen
This 1981 film, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, is a West German production, but several of the actors are speaking other languages and then are dubbed into German, which may be distracting for some viewers.…