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During a leave in Berlin, Lieutenant Paul Wendlandt, a young Luftwaffe pilot, falls for Anna Holberg, a famous singer, who returns his love. But in time of war it is hard to live on love only. The lovers keep being separated on account of Paul’s missions and their intended marriage ceremony is constantly postponed. To cap it all, misunderstanding sets in between Paul and Anna. Will they ever become the happy couple they deserve to be?Read More »
hypersquared wrote:
You know you’re in for a ride with this picture from the opening moments. Roehler drops us smack in the middle of a blowout argument between a young couple whose sex life is on the skids. The fight is at that fever pitch where the woman is crying almost convulsively, and where each of them is beginning to lose their grip on saying sensible things and are on the verge of cheap shots and unhelpful attempts at humor. The scene is tangible and familiar to anyone who’s ever grappled with a fraying relationship, and, with a shocking abruptness, we’re immediately in the reality of Robert and Marie.Read More »
A mocumentary that takes the viewer through the ages, past all kinds of sexual excesses and escapades…Read More »
Günter Walcher is an average, apolitical, working-class West German citizen caught in a moral conflict. He is offered a promotion to division head—on the condition that he find a reason for Zacharias, the work council chairman and a communist, to get fired. Walcher thinks back on another situation where he was lead to do something he believed to be wrong: when he was a member of the Hitler Youth, he became responsible for someone’s death.Read More »
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Agnes and his brothers have little in common, except an eccentric old father, relationship problems that are totally screwing up their lives, and the distinct possibility those two things are connected. Hans-Jörg conceals his sexual frustration behind his meek librarian appearance. Sex addict meetings don’t seem to be stopping his incessant masturbation and awkwardness with women. But his life changes drastically when he finds outlets for his anger and lusty libido. Werner is much more successful at political combat than family diplomacy. He’s caught up in an upperclass suburban nightmare and bickering is the only heat left in his marriage.Read More »
One of the worst of many inhuman aspects of World War II were the “penalty” battalions in the German army, dramatized in this excellent film about several men serving in these units. Director Harald Phillipp spares no ounce of realism in first relating what kinds of men are conscripted, and then how they are treated. One man’s crime was not returning to his unit on time, another did not follow unscrupulous orders, yet another supposedly mutilated himself in order to escape the draft. Once in a penalty battalion, the assignments and the superior officers are brutal. The men are sent to the most dangerous battle fronts, they are asked to de-mine without equipment, and no one balks at leaving them without weapons if a hasty retreat is in order. Sobering and well-photographed, the men’s stories are engrossing from beginning to end.
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Perhaps just as integral to Nazi film history as Leni Riefenstahl was largely forgotten “Jew Suss” director Veit Harlan. This documentary explores the life and career of Harlan, the expert film artisan responsible for the controversial 1940 feature still regarded as the most anti-Semitic production ever made. Includes home movies, archival footage, and interviews with family members who grapple with Harlan’s dark legacy.Read More »
This is not only a sequel to the “Second Heimat”, but also a chronicle of a very decisive decade for Germany (1989 to 200). The main couple of the mini-series released in 1992, Hermann Simon and Clarissa Lichtbau (played by the same actors), reunite after almost exactly 29 years. Their last night of love in November 1970 closed the previous series. Now, on November 9th, 1989, when the Berlin Wall falls, Hermann and Clarissa meet each other again by mere chance. Surrounded by celebrations, the former lovers bring each other up to date, and reestablish a relationship. Hermann has become a well known maestro and Clarissa, a respected singer, but both lead solitary lives. Clarissa takes Hermann back to his birthplace, Schabbach where he can revisit his brothers, Ernst and Anton (the same actors from Heimat 1), who stayed on there, and extended family and friends.Read More »
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After reading a pamphlet urging everyone to go to war, Werner falls into disagreement with his future father-in-law. A number of friends dress up as soldiers and give the father-in-law a letter in which he is summoned by the army. At his border post he is captured by ‘the enemy’.Read More »