Andrew's Top 15 German Films (Part Two)

Now before I begin to cite my next 5 fave Deutsch films I must add a mea culpa. Yes, I am guilty of not thinking about including classics of German cinema such as "Die Blechtrommel" ("The Tin Drum"), "Der Kabinett Des Dr Caligari" ("The Cabinet of Dr Caligari") or "Lola Rennt" ("Run Lola Run"). In the first and third instances I have ready access to those films and have seen the third which in all honesty wasn't as enjoyable as Tom Tykwer-philes would have me believe. The first is on my 'must see' list and could possibly slip in if I was either (a) patient enough to write this blog post facto and (b) if I wanted to have another German cinematic interpretation of the Nazi era included. As for "...Caligari" I know enough about this silent classic to consider it a favourite in terms of what I understand of German movies, but without seeing it in full I shan't make any further reference to it here.

Anyway, with that off my chest here are films 10-6:

10. Mädchen, Mädchen (Girls on Top)
This could be said to be the most frivolous and lightweight of my top 15 German films, and it has some seriously silly sequences. The basic storyline involves three late teen high school girls in Munich trying to experience 'orgasmus und liebe', and in the process find out the delights of internet chat, riding bicycles, sex toys and volleyball. Yeah I know...it sounds distinctly dodgy. Having said that there are some rather funny moments and one particular scene which matches the classic "When Harry Met Sally" diner sequence (and arguably surpasses it). For fans of recent German cinema seeing the likes of Florian Lukas and the much younger Max Riemelt and Karoline Herfurth is pleasantly rewarding, and it has to be said that Diana Amft as Inken is very easy on the eye. Without having the day-to-day experience of being a German cinema goer in Germany itself my expectation is (like in so many other countries) the likes of "Mädchen, Mädchen" are what bring in the ticket sales in German theatres whilst it's the art house and classic films that make the reputation overseas. Hence I have little problem enjoying this comedy.



9. Verschwende deine Jugend (Play It Loud)
"Verschwende..." is the 'lost classic' when it comes to my favourite German movies because I have only seen it once (at the 2004 German Film Festival) and since then it has never been shown on local TV (pay or free-to-air) nor is it available in an English-subtitled edition. To approximate it to a known Hollywood genre or style it could be best described as a "hey, let's put on a show" comedy/musical. There are also echoes of "The Commitments" in that both that Irish film and "Verschwende.." focus on a barely-out-of-school band manager pulling all manner of stunts on behalf of his act. Set during the early 1980s and against the background of the incredible success of NDW/Krautrock/Electronica pop "Verschwende..." follows the efforts of Harry (played by Tom Schilling) as he tries to get his Munich band "Apollo Schwabing" into a huge gig headlined by DAF. Along the way there are romantic entanglements, a bank robbery and both high and low farce. The soundtrack is an important part of the film and forms an organic partnership with the visuals. If anyone knows of an English subtitled version let me know...



8. Stalingrad
I've written elsewhere about this film account of the worst defeat suffered by the Wehrmacht in World War Two and it's natural to give it prominence amongst my fave German films. The overriding reason to see this movie is to get the 'other side of the trench' viewpoint, and I would expect for many of the German viewers of the film it would have either been an eye opener or perhaps cathartic for the war generation. The moral ambiguity inherent in making a film about the German army in its aggressive war against the Soviet Union is all there to see, as are the dirty, ragged, worn out and utterly ground down combatants. Contrasted with the Hollywood actioner "Enemy at the Gates" the German film "Stalingrad" is more visceral and more focused on the concept of frontsleben und kameradschaft. As I've also mentioned before, this was the movie where Thomas Kretschmann emerged as one of those German actors who could have a future away from his native land and language.



7. Napola (Before The Fall)
Bringing together two of the younger generation of German actors who've I've seen in several films (i.e. Tom Schilling and Max Riemelt), "Napola" was directed by Dennis Gansel who was also responsible for "Mädchen, Mädchen" and the 2008 drama "Die Welle" ("The Wave"). Many reviewers have seen in "Napola" a traditional film construct (i.e. the poor student going to a privileged school), but of course as this is a German film there has to be some examination of the Nazi period. As a coming of age film it's serviceable, and the inclusion of figures who resist Nazi ideology points to other later films (e.g. "Sophie Scholl"). However for me it's the exposition of the historical reality of the NaPolA filtered through the fiction of the film which is most intriguing. The concept of schools for the Nazi power elite is one which like almost all Third Reich social history doesn't get much mention in traditional non-fiction work about that era.


6. The Lives of Others (Das Leben Des Anderen)
Whenever German film makers look at their nation's history they have two immense anchors upon which to link their stories to. The first is the Nazi era and as show above (and as will be seen in following entries) any movie that raises even a whiff of the swastika will probably get funding and certainly will have an audience. Naturally they don't glorify Nazism, but they do try to make that period explicable to both the home-grown German audience and perhaps in the rest of the world. The other is the old East Germany, or DDR. From the Berlin Wall through the Stasi and even the post-Wende experience have meant that the Soviet-sponsored state east of the Elbe is a rich vein to mine for German film makers. And in "The Lives of Others" the writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck created a Foreign Language Oscar winning modern classic. Assisted by powerful performances from the sadly-departed Ulrich Mühe (as a Stasi observor/interrogator) Sebastian Koch (as the suspect East German playwright) and Martina Gedeck (as the tragic partner of Koch's character), "The Lives of Others" is a moving, suspenseful, politically challenging film about how corruption and day-today totalitarian infiltrations destroyed lives on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall. Mühe is particularly effective; his character Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler slowly comes to understand that the society he is sworn to protect by almost any means is actually run by his moral inferiors, who are guilty of destroying those they covet as well as those who oppose them. Facing his own ethical bankruptcy the Stasi agent actually turns, but oh so gradually. Coming out at a time when 'Ostalgie' (nostalgia for East Germany) was a powerful phenomena in German culture "The Lives of Others" is a salutary movie which is easily one of the most critically rewarded movies from Germany that I have seen.