{"id":515,"date":"2017-12-07T19:04:38","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T03:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/?p=515"},"modified":"2018-06-06T12:43:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T19:43:56","slug":"12-contemporary-german-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/2017\/12\/07\/12-contemporary-german-films\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Contemporary German Films"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching full-length films in German is one of the best ways to practice your language skills while also having fun. German cinema, dating back to classics like “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1929), is full of incredibly beautiful films. What’s sometimes harder to find are films released within our lifetimes, so here are 12 Contemporary German Films (in alphabetic order) from several genres, all of which are available at the Reed Instructional Media Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Barbara” (2012): <\/b>Barbara, an East German doctor, is sent to work in a small town hospital as punishment for requesting to leave the country. While planning an escape to the West, she discovers she has reasons to stay. A personal and touching drama, <\/span>Barbara<\/span><\/i> is also a vignette of life in East Germany. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Bella Martha” \/ \u201cMostly Martha\u201d (2001): <\/b>A touching German romantic comedy about Martha, a woman trying to balance her passion as a chef with the difficulties of caring for her stubborn niece. Martha herself is as fiery and stubborn as her niece, and they often butt heads, but the introduction of a friendly, good-looking Italian chef seems to have an effect on their relationship. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDas Experiment\u201d \/ \u201cThe Experiment\u201d (2001):<\/b> Loosely based on the Stanford prison experiment, <\/span>Das Experiment <\/span><\/i>imagines the psychological toll on a group of people randomly assigned roles as \u201cprisoners\u201d or \u201cguards\u201d. Moritz Bleibtreu, one of Germany\u2019s most famous actors, stars in this dark thriller. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDas Leben der Anderen\u201d \/ \u201cThe Lives of Others\u201d (2006)<\/b>: Possibly the most acclaimed modern film to come out of Germany, <\/span>Das Leben der Anderen <\/span><\/i>is about \u00a0East German surveillance during the Cold War. A Stasi officer, listening in on a young couple, becomes fascinated with their lives. The film has won numerous awards for its dramatic brilliance and accurate display of the historical atmosphere, and is a must-see. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Der Untergang” \/ \u201cDownfall\u201d (2004): <\/b>An epic drama about the final days of the Nazi regime, <\/span>Der Untergang <\/span><\/i>is told from the perspective of Traudl Junge, Hitler\u2019s personal secretary. The film dramatises the events that lead up to Hitler\u2019s downfall, while dealing with themes of responsibility and guilt. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Fack ju G\u00f6hte” (2013): <\/b>The German equivalent of a Jack Black film, <\/span>Fack ju G\u00f6hte<\/span><\/i> is about a former bank robber who mistakenly gets hired as a substitute teacher. Although you\u2019ll probably never see this film on a syllabus, it\u2019s universally well-known in Germany as one of the funniest and stupidest films of our generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood Bye, Lenin\u201d (2001):<\/b> Set during the Reunification of West and East Germany, Alex has to protect his mother, who awoke from a coma to a brand new world. He reconstructs a mini-GDR in her apartment, but the deception goes too far and he starts to blur reality and fiction. An excellent watch for those interested in post-unification German culture, history, and comedy! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Herr Lehmann” \/ \u201cBerlin Blues\u201d (2003)<\/b>: Just before the German reunification, <\/span>Herr Lehmann <\/span><\/i>introduces us to Frank Lehmann, a twenty-something bartender living lazily in West Berlin. When his parents come to visit, his depressingly boring life is upset, and he has to reevaluate his lifestyle. If you\u2019re looking for an enjoyable and fun film, this isn\u2019t it, but it\u2019s a great period piece full of clever dialogue. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Lola Rennt” \/ \u201cRun Lola Run\u201d (1998): <\/b>Lola is thrust into a dangerous situation by her boyfriend, Manni, and has twenty minutes to collect 100,000 deutsche Marks, and so she runs\u2026and runs\u2026and runs. The rest can only be described as an MTV-inspired thriller with as many experimental techniques as you can hope to cram in an 80-minute film. A cult classic action-thriller with a plot and characters so energetic, you\u2019ll be breathless yourself by the end. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Sophie Scholl: Die letzten Tagen” (2005): <\/b>Based on a true story, this epic drama recreates the final days of Sophie and her brother, two members of an underground resistance group in Nazi Germany called the \u201cWei\u00dfe Rose\u201d. Although the film is tragic and may leave you weeping, it\u2019s narratively excellent and cinematographically beautiful. <\/span><\/p>\n

“T\u00fcrkisch f\u00fcr Anf\u00e4nger” (2012): <\/b>One of the more ridiculous suggestions on this list, this film is essentially a goofy spin-off of \u201cLost\u201d. Four teenagers get stranded on a beautiful desert island and have to put aside their caricaturised differences and get along. Full of politically-incorrect stereotypes and language, <\/span>T\u00fcrkisch f\u00fcr Anf\u00e4nger <\/span><\/i>will set you up perfectly for a trip to Germany. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVincent will Meer\u201d \/ \u201cVincent Wants to Sea\u201d (2010): <\/b>A young man with Tourette\u2019s wants nothing more than to escape his mental institution and take a trip to Italy. With the help of Marie, a woman with an eating disorder, the two break out and take a road trip full of misadventures. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching full-length films in German is one of the best ways to practice your language skills while also having fun. German cinema, dating back to classics like “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1929), is full of incredibly beautiful films. What’s sometimes harder to find are films released within our lifetimes, so here are 12 Contemporary … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “12 Contemporary German Films”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1721,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,83,70],"tags":[21,49,99,104,103,102],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-levels","category-film","category-german","tag-21st-century","tag-comedy","tag-drama","tag-recommendation","tag-romance","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1721"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions\/517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}