Life in Totalitarian States
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- DirectorDaniel EspinosaStarsTom HardyGary OldmanNoomi RapaceA disgraced member of the Russian military police investigates a series of child murders during the Stalin-era Soviet Union.
- DirectorVincent PerezStarsLouis HofmannEmil von SchönfelsKatrin PollittAfter a Nazi German working class couple loses their son in World War II, they decide to retaliate by secretly leafletting handwritten cards in Berlin denouncing their government.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsSean ConneryAlec BaldwinScott GlennIn November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsSean ConneryMichelle PfeifferRoy ScheiderA British publisher is sent a manuscript detailing Soviet Union nuclear missile capabilities. British Intelligence intercept it and recruit him to investigate the author's editor, a beautiful Russian woman he claims never to have met.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsMichael DegenFranziska PetriSuzanne von BorsodyIn 1933 Nuremberg, Leo Katzenberger is a successful Jewish businessman and a devoted family man. As the climate in Germany grows increasingly dangerous, bombshell Irene moves to the neighborhood and everything changes.
- DirectorBabak AnvariStarsNarges RashidiAvin ManshadiBobby NaderiAs a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 1980s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home.
- StarsBurt LancasterRichard CrennaPaul Le MatWhen executives from an important Texas Corporation are taken hostage during the Iranian Revolution, magnate Ross Perot launches a special unit for their rescue.
- DirectorBrian GilbertStarsSally FieldAlfred MolinaSheila RosenthalAn American woman trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutal husband must find a way for her and her daughter to escape.
- DirectorNiko von GlasowStarsIvan StebunovBela B.Jochen NickelCologne-Ehrenfeld, November 1944. They're young, wild and rebellious, like young people anywhere and in any time, but working-class boys Karl and his younger brother Peter are Edelweiss Pirates. They oppose the Nazis, and are pursued by the Gestapo. With the escaped concentration camp prisoner Hans Steinbrück, they plan acts of sabotage, until the Gestapo take them on with their full might. When they're arrested, Karl is torn between his will to survive, his feelings of responsibility, his love for his brother, and his loyalty to the Edelweiss Pirates.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsJude LawEd HarrisJoseph FiennesA Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsTom HulceLolita DavidovichAleksandr ZbruevThe true story of Ivan Sanchin, the KGB officer who was Stalin's private film projectionist from 1939 until the dictator's death. Told from Sanchin's view, the sympathetic but tragically flawed hero maintains unwavering faith in his "Master" despite the arrest of his neighbors and his involvement with their daughter, his wife's affair with the chilling State Security chief Lavrentii Beria and her tragic decline, and the deadly political machinations within the Kremlin he witnesses firsthand.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsMonica BellucciGiuseppe SulfaroLuciano FedericoAmidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.
- DirectorRolf SchübelStarsJoachim KrólErika MarozsánStefano DionisiFollows three men who are in love with a beautiful waitress during World War II: an intellectual restaurant owner, a mysterious musician, and an erratic businessman.
- DirectorManuel HuergaStarsDaniel BrühlTristán UlloaLeonardo SbaragliaA profile of anarchist and bank-robber Salvador Puig Antich, whose 1974 execution under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco ushered in a period of unrest that helped Spain transition to democracy.
- DirectorVicente ArandaStarsImanol AriasVictoria AbrilAntonio ValeroFirst part of the history of "El Lute", a delinquent who became notorious in Spain for his jail escapes in the 60's, converting himself in a popular legend.
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsIvana BaqueroAriadna GilSergi LópezIn the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
- DirectorWolfgang GlückStarsTobias EngelSunnyi MellesHeinz TrixnerIn 1938, Austria is about to become a part of the Third Reich. A theater actress and a Jewish journalist fall in love and spend time together, completely ignoring the political turmoil of the time despite friendly warnings.
- DirectorDani LevyStarsHelge SchneiderUlrich MüheSylvester GrothThis action comedy is set in 1944. Hitler appears in it as a physically and mentally destroyed person who takes the advice of Goebbels and goes to a Jewish concentration camp to receive lessons in eloquence to inspire the German people to continue to fight.
- DirectorUrs OdermattStarsGötz GeorgeTom SchillingAnna UnterbergerThe young, despotic and untalented artist Adolf Hitler comes to Vienna to study art. He befriends the Jew Schlomo Herzl working on a novel with the title "Mein Kampf". Hitler is rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Herzl's concern for the sad young man continues, and leads him to a new career with disastrous consequences for world history.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsSolomon PerelMarco HofschneiderRené HofschneiderA boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
- DirectorJames McTeigueStarsHugo WeavingNatalie PortmanRupert GravesIn a future British dystopian society, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of "V", plots to overthrow the tyrannical government - with the help of a young woman.
- DirectorMichael RadfordStarsJohn HurtRichard BurtonSuzanna HamiltonIn a totalitarian future society, a man, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJonathan PryceKim GreistRobert De NiroA bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
- DirectorMarcos ZurinagaStarsAndy GarciaEsai MoralesNaim ThomasA journalist starts an investigation into the disappearance of famed poet and political agitator, Garcia Lorca, who disappeared in the early days of the Spanish Civil War in the the 1930's.
- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsUlrich MüheMartina GedeckSebastian KochIn 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
- DirectorMenahem GolanStarsEllen BurstynMaruschka DetmersAnthony AndrewsDuring WW2 Hanna Szenes, a Hungarian Jew living in British Palestine, volunteers to go behind enemy lines to rescue Jews from deportation to death camps.
- DirectorFrançois GirardStarsCarlo CecchiJean-Luc BideauChristoph KonczA red-colored violin inspires passion, making its way through three centuries over several owners and countries, eventually ending up at an auction where it may find a new owner.
- DirectorTinto BrassStarsMalcolm McDowellPeter O'TooleHelen MirrenA dramatization of the ascent to Caesar and subsequent reign of Caligula, one of the most notorious leaders of ancient Rome. We see his ambition, his scheming, his perversion and decadence, his brutality and his lunacy.
- DirectorGérard CorbiauStarsBenoît MagimelBoris TerralTchéky KaryoCorbiau repeats the Farinelli formula, artistic rivalry and social private drama expressed in dazzling, sometimes excessively lavish baroque scenery, music and costume, but this time in its ultimate setting: Versailles. There are two protagonists - first the title character, Louis XIV, the French sun-king who has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer (like Nero wrote and performed musical poetry), and starts asserting himself against the entourage of his Medici mother, the regent during his minority, by building his palace complex and launching a 'fitting' new, mainly musical display of baroque show. Secondly the musical genius Gianbattista Lulli ('Jean-Baptiste') Lully, a Florentine upstart of unbridled ambition, quickly gains the king's absolute trust, despite the nationalist and aristocratic opposition to a low-born Italian, and thus turns the normally socially humble post of court composer into a 'ministerial portfolio of culture' of Cabinet rank, complete with a monopoly which kills of his artistic rivals in operatic theater. The script also weaves a complex web of court scheming for individual power and social interests, and even a sadistic but accidental murder on a young valet, producing a sensuous and sumptuous drama too complex for this format, ending in a freakish but fatal accident. Louis XIV's mother was Ana de Austria (in French, Anne d' Autriche), the daughter of one of the Hapsburgh Kings of Spain. Maria di Medici (in French, Marie de Médicis) was his grandmother, his father's mother. She was dead before Louis XIV reached the throne. Please correct the reference to "his Medici mother"
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzAlfred BöhmHans HoltA politically naïve Viennese butcher (Bockerer) manages to survive the unification of Germany and Austria and the Second World War.
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzCaroline VasicekAlexander WussowIn the occupied Vienna of the post-war years, it is once again Karl Bockerer who, in a charming and defiant manner, offers his naive resistance to the ruling powers. This time, his doggedness is directed against the Russian occupiers, whose inhuman severity jeopardizes the happiness of two lovers. Although Elena and Gustl are brought together by fate, it is Karl Bockerer who leads them both with skill and cunning out of the danger zone.
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzAlexander WussowCaroline VasicekVienna, 1956. Viennese butcher Karl Bockerer goes to Hungary to buy meat. Along with his foster son and grandchild, he is caught up in the turmoil of the Hungarian revolt against the Soviet occupiers.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsGérard DepardieuUma ThurmanTim RothVatel is the cook of Prince Condé. When the prince invites Louis XIV to hunt, he has to give lavish banquets in order to fall in his favor. But when Vatel falls in love with the king's mistress, love and duty come into conflict.
- DirectorLee TamahoriStarsDominic CooperLudivine SagnierRaad RawiA chilling vision of the house of Saddam. The world of Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was given a choice; either be the double for Saddam's sadistic son, or die.
- DirectorPeter BergStarsJamie FoxxChris CooperJennifer GarnerA team of U.S. government agents are sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJessica LangeArmin Mueller-StahlFrederic ForrestA lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
- DirectorJohn MalkovichStarsJavier BardemLaura MoranteJuan Diego BottoA police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.
- DirectorBille AugustStarsJeremy IronsMélanie LaurentJack HustonSwiss Professor Raimund Gregorius abandons his lectures and buttoned-down life to embark on a thrilling adventure that will take him on a journey to the very heart of himself.
- DirectorKoldo SerraStarsGary OldmanVirginie LedoyenPaddy ConsidineAn English couple's holiday in Spain is interrupted when they discover a girl imprisoned in a cabin.
- DirectorAlberto RodríguezStarsJavier GutiérrezRaúl ArévaloMaría VarodTwo cops lost in the deep south of Spain. One serial killer to catch. A lot of secrets and lies to disclose.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsJames CaanJohn HousemanMaud AdamsIn a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsChris KleinJean RenoLL Cool JThe big thing in 2005 is a violent sport which can have some pretty serious consequences... like dying.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsCasper Van DienDenise RichardsDina MeyerHumans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
- DirectorGabriele SalvatoresStarsDiego AbatantuonoClaudio BigagliGiuseppe CedernaIn WW2, an Italian Army unit of misfits occupies an isolated non-strategic Greek island for the duration of the war.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsCate BlanchettJames FleetAbigail CruttendenA young Scottish woman joins the French Resistance during World War II to rescue her Royal Air Force boyfriend who is lost in France.
- DirectorMichael VerhoevenStarsLena StolzeMartin BenrathWulf KesslerDuring the Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to question the decisions and sanity of Germany's Nazi government. The students form a resistance cell which they name the "White Rose" after a newsletter that is secretly distributed to the student body. At first small in numbers and fearful of discovery, the White Rose begins to gain massive support after a Nazi Gauleiter nearly incites a student riot after a provocative speech. At this point, the matter is taken over by the Gestapo, who pledge to hunt down and destroy the members of the White Rose.
- DirectorMarc RothemundStarsJulia JentschFabian HinrichsAlexander HeldA dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsKatja RiemannMaria SchraderSvea LohdeAfter the death of her father, Hannah becomes concerned with the strange behavior of her mother. As her mother's troubled childhood is revealed, Hannah realizes how little she ever knew.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsMaggie SmithJudi DenchJoan PlowrightAn orphaned Italian boy is raised amongst a circle of British and American women living in Mussolini's Italy before and during World War II.
- DirectorMoustapha AkkadStarsAnthony QuinnOliver ReedRod SteigerIn 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani as colonial governor to Italian Libya with orders to stamp-out all resistance from Libyan nationalists led by rebel guerrilla leader Omar Mukhtar.
- DirectorMarco BellocchioStarsGiovanna MezzogiornoFilippo TimiFausto Russo AlesiThe story of Mussolini's secret lover, Ida Dalser, and their son Albino.
- StarsSusan SarandonAnthony HopkinsBob HoskinsA compelling drama and documentary chronicling the life and death of Il Duce (Bob Hoskins), from his days as a terrorist, to his alliance with Hitler, to the betrayal of his son-in-law, and untimely demise.
- DirectorCarlo LizzaniStarsRod SteigerFranco NeroLisa GastoniIn 1945, the dictator of fascist Italy and Hitler's close ally Benito Mussolini faces defeat. In a desperate attempt to avoid capture, he tries to flee the country with his lover Claretta Petacci, but Italian partisans are on their tail.
- DirectorOliver HirschbiegelStarsBruno GanzAlexandra Maria LaraUlrich MatthesTraudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsIan HartRosana PastorIcíar BollaínDavid is an unemployed communist that comes to Spain in 1937 during the civil war to enroll the republicans and defend the democracy against the fascists. He makes friends between the soldiers.
- StarsChristoph WaltzMario AdorfDeborah KaufmannThe 1530s. Many are convinced that the Day of Judgement is at hand. A protest movement is making the heart of Europe beat faster and louder: it is a protest against the dissipation of the Catholic clergy, but also against the religious remedies prescibed by Lutheranism. The Anabaptist movement preaches the second coming and prophesies that all enemies of the "true faith" will "drown in rivers of blood". All those, however, who renounce the devil are promised both earthly and heavenly happiness in a "new Jerusalem". When the Anabaptist doctrine overtakes the flourishing town of Münster ("the pearl of Westphalia") and the town's Catholics are either driven out or forced to live in a ghetto, the newly-elected Prince-Bishop of Münster and Osnabrück, Count Franz Waldeck, decides to take fiercer action against what he sees as the "Anabaptist scourge"; anyone who lets themselves be rebaptized in his diocese, whether male or female, is to be hanged from the nearest tree. Sebastian Kien, a vagrant travelling actor (actually quite similar in nature and temperament to François Villon) uses a mixture of cunning and deceit to save a young girl from being hanged. Since the girl, Engele Kerkerinck, has lost her entire family, Sebastian takes her under his wing, gives her the courage to carry on living, and says he will teach her how to sing and to dance. Engele, however, wants to go to Münster where the legendary Jan van Leyden, an Anabaptist, is preaching, and to whose sermons Catholics and Protestants alike - and women in particular - are flocking. Engele, too, is under the spell of this man, and mesmerised by his stature, his fire, his powerful words and his charisma. Sebastian Kien recognises an old friend in Jan van Leyden: the latter is none other than the actor and pimp Jan Bockelson, with whom he used to make the same kind of living (often a pathetic one) that he still does now. A rapturous reunion ensues. Bockelson wants his old friend to join forces with him and predicts a glorious future for himself: "One day I'll be King of Münster!" But resistance from those Catholics who still remain in Münster has not yet been fully overcome. The prosperous burghers still distrust the man who preaches poverty and renunciation while stashing his own coffers with money and jewellery. Bockelson overcomes a crisis of confidence in his abilities, sparked off by the town council, by asking a famous prophet known as Jan Matthys to come to the town's assistance. Sebastian Kien is given instructions to turn the prophet's arrival into an occasion of popular celebration. After an almost supernatural piece of stage direction, Bockelson succeeds in winning the hearts of the townsfolk once more, little realising that the prophet's arrival in Münster means that he is about to be inexorably caught up in a rapid succession of events. The reason for this is Divara, Jan Matthys' wife. She and Bockelson seem to recognise one another as kindred spirits from their very first meeting: both are held in the sway of a powerful mutual fascination. Divara sees the future potential of the young, beaming Bockelson, and considers him far more promising than the already ageing Jan Matthys who, plagued by self-doubt, is falling prey to alcoholism. Divara, attractive, desirable and very self-confident, uses all the weapons a woman possesses. She provokes Jan Bockelson into killing the Catholics' leader, Trutelink, and accuses her husband of weakness, urging him to practice what he preaches and to go and prove his mettle against the Prince-Bishop. Fully aware of what is going on, and in the knowledge that his days are numbered, Jan Matthys rides off into a trap carefully prepared by Tom Korteboldt, a double agent in the pay of both sides. Jan Matthys dies with a prophecy upon his lips: "In three days' time I shall be resurrected from the dead!" When this prophecy is not fulfilled, Jan Bockelson faces yet another crisis of confidence. At the very last moment Divara manages to stop the mayor, Knipperdolling, and the rest of the town council from accepting the Prince-Bishop's offer of negotiation in return for surrendering the town without a fight. And once again Sebastian Kien is faced with having to help his old friend out of a dilemma. Engele persuades him to do so. Sebastian stages a supernatural event - the arrival of an angel - for the credulous and astonished townspeople, and thus restores his friend's charisma. Divara makes use of the townspeople's credulity to tie things up once and for all. She ensures that Jan Bockelson, favoured by the Lord, becomes "King of Münster", while she herself takes over the role of Queen. Engele has long since fallen prey to her fascination for Bockelson. She is endured as the King's mistress by Divara, who sees the girl as next to no competition; indeed, she even sees her as strengthening her position. Sebastian Kien decides he wants to leave the town. His concern for Engele developed into affection, and affection has now turned into love - a very different kind of love, though, than that practised by his former friend Bockelson. Out of concern for Engele, Sebastian remains in the town - also, perhaps, because he is still hoping that she will come back to him. From now on Bockelson surrenders to his own personal whims and delights, cloaking it all in the guise of "divine inspiration". When Clarissa, the daughter of mayor Knipperdolling, and the last Catholic in Münster, is discovered hiding in a well-shaft, Bockelson orders her father - whom he has appointed the kingdom's chief executioner - to behead his own daughter. Bockelson's sudden decision to humiliate the intractably Catholic Clarissa still further, rather than just kill her outright, saves the girl's life. The King of Münster makes the mayor's daughter his courtesan, and shortly afterwards has polygamy and free love announced as a tenet of the Anabaptist faith. Münster celebrates this new edict with an orgy. The siege of Münster by the Prince-Bishop has now been going on for over a year. The town is riddled with disease and starvation. The townspeople scratch moss off the stones in the graveyards to fill their bellies, women scrape plaster off the frescoes in the church to make "milk" for their children. The cholera victims are tipped unceremoniously over the town wall. Divara is aware of the danger and she takes decisive action. She promises the town council "help and salvation" within three days. And, as a pledge, she promises that "the King will burn if the prophecy is not fulfilled". Panic-stricken, Bockelson seeks the advice and support of his friend Sebastian, whom he has thrown into prison. Yet again, it is an idea of Sebastian Kien's that allows Bockelson to extricate himself from the affair. He sees his chance in the double meaning of the verb "to burn". At a ceremony which the preacher Rottmann turns into a religious ceremony, Bockelson not only burns the books written by his religious rivals but also the last Catholic in Münster, Clarissa Knipperdolling, who refuses to renounce her faith. The crowd's enthusiasm is boundless. This first human sacrifice is soon to be followed by a second. Engele beseeches Bockelson in vain to spare the life of Sebastian Kien, whom Bockelson now regards as his most dangerous rival. For Kien knows the truth about Bockelson's past life - and he screams it into the face of the man who calls himself "the messenger of the Lord". At first, the townspeople, who have rushed enthusiastically to the Prinzipalmarkt to watch Sebastian Kien's execution, seem stunned. But then Rottmann the preacher puts on his most successful performance so far: he turns Kien's accusations upside down by treating them as proof of divine long-sightedness and mercy, and in doing so succeeds in winning the crowd's approval. And as if to prove his magnanimity and humanity, Bockelson answers Engele's prayers: he sets his friend free. Prince-Bishop Waldeck, unswerving in his faith and unbending in his desire to recapture Münster for his own, makes one final attempt to go down as magnanimous and merciful in the history books. He decides to defeat his enemies - who have used the word of God to take over the town - by the word of God too. In a magnificent display of religious pomp, he stands face to face with the "latter-day King", and reads him the parable of the lost sheep from the bible. Bockelson, seeing his followers already on their knees before the cross of Catholicism, manages at the very last moment to stop the Anabaptists from capitulating. Waldeck and his followers are then forced to realise just how much power Jan Bockelson has over the people of Münster: the Prince-Bishop's carefully staged entreaty is mockingly answered by a phalanx of naked Anabaptist buttocks along the town battlements. Waldeck gives the order to attack. That night, in the year 1535, Münster drowns in a sea of rain and blood. When the sun comes up again, the town is in the hands of the Prince-Bishop. Waldeck meets an enemy who shows no remorse or submissiveness. Even as a prisoner, Bockelson is condescending and full of scorn. Not one word of regret about what he has done. Bockelson senses that God is on his side - in the struggle against the corruption of the authorities. Count Waldeck and his followers prepare the punishment rite. It is to be an occasion of great magnificence: a public execution that will remain etched in popular memory for generations, demonstrating the victory of the righteous and God-fearing over all that is evil. Divara, whom Waldeck finds very attractive, turns down the Prince-Bishop's offer to make her his mistress by committing suicide. All the anger and hatred the victors have left is now concentrated on one man: Bockelson. Bockelson is interrogated, and tortured eight times - all in vain. He is unyielding, even under pain. He impresses his inquisitors by quoting Thomas Aquinas, and uttering obscene jokes dating from his days as a pimp and innkeeper at the "Three Herrings" in Leyden. Bockelson, Mayor Knipperdolling and Chancellor Krechting are placed in three cages and put on display in front of the curious crowd. Looking at them costs one pfennig. Touching them costs one pfennig extra. Then there is the final wordless meeting between Bockelson and Engele, who prays to God to grant him a merciful death. It is the night of the condemned Bockelson's last meal, to which he has invited his "friend" Sebastian: the "latter-day King" uses up all his actor's talents to put on a show of pride and dignity. He, Knipperdolling and Krechting are to be hung in their cages high up on the Lambertikirche, and Bockelson's last wish is to be hung higher than the other two. The execution has all the trappings of a festival, especially for those who have long since returned to their original belief. The executioners, it has been decided, will slowly torture Bockelson to death with red-hot pincers. Bockelson knows about this because Sebastian has already told him, but he has also prophesied to Sebastian that he will neither groan nor scream - though he might just hum and sing... Sebastian Kien follows the progress of the event from some distance away. He has resolved to applaud and to shout with relief as Bockelson is slowly tortured to death. He sees the glowing pincers, hears the hiss of burning flesh and then, very quietly: he hears Bockelson singing a song, one that they used to sing together in the old days. Sebastian Kien does Jan Bockelson a final service. He rushes towards the tribune, past the executioners, and stabs Bockelson twice with a knife. The first time he misses the heart, but the second time he makes no mistake. Together, on the covered wagon they arrived in, Sebastian and Engele leave the town that has kept them like prisoners for 16 months. Engele confesses to Sebastian that she is expecting a baby - Bockelson's baby. "I'll teach him to dance and sing and write poetry", says Sebastian. "Can you be a comedian and sing and dance without believing in God...?" asks Engele. Sebastian: "You can..." "Why do people dance, then...?" asks Engele - and receives no reply...
- DirectorFlorian GallenbergerStarsEmma WatsonDaniel BrühlMichael NyqvistA young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody has ever escaped from.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsPowers BootheNed BeattyIrene CaraThe real-life story of the Peoples Temple cult led by Reverend Jim Jones and the events involving its move to Guyana and its eventual mass suicide.
- DirectorBrian GibsonStarsJoBeth WilliamsCraig T. NelsonHeather O'RourkeThe Freeling family have a new house, but their troubles with supernatural forces don't seem to be over.
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsJohn HurtJane AlexanderDoug McKeonTrue tale about two men planning to escape from communist East Germany in a hot air balloon, but only if they can take their families with them.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsPaul NewmanJulie AndrewsLila KedrovaAn American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin before planning an escape back to the West.
- DirectorRadu GabreaStarsDavid ZimmerschiedAlicja BachledaIoana IacobA moving coming of age story in a time of extreme change: on August 23, 1944 in a small city in Romanian Transylvania, the 16 year old Felix Goldschmidt awaits his classmates for their traditional Exitus Party (school graduation). However, this very day the kingdom of Romania takes leave of its ally of many years - Nazi Germany - thus ending the 800 year old, highly successful story of ethnic German immigration at the feet of the Carpathian Mountains. It is a great story of young people's blindness to the rise of Fascism, the destruction of bourgeois values, a first love and shattered friendships.
- DirectorBryan SingerStarsTom CruiseBill NighyCarice van HoutenA dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.
- DirectorJo BaierStarsSebastian KochUlrich TukurHardy Krüger Jr.In 1944, in fear of a complete German defeat in the World War II, a group of high command officers plot an attempt against Hitler, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy, Stauffenberg (Sebastian Koch), goes to a meeting with the Fuhrer in charge of exploding the place. However, Hitler survives and the officers are executed. This unsuccessful operation was called "Valkyrie Operation", and this realistic movie discloses this true event.
- DirectorToke Constantin HebbelnStarsAlexander FehlingAugust DiehlRonald ZehrfeldThe dream of two young men to become sailors collides with the harsh realities of life in East Germany.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJohn LoneJoan ChenPeter O'TooleBernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.
- DirectorUrs EggerStarsJacob MatschenzBernadette HeerwagenMax Riemelt1974. The world is divided into two rigid power blocs. A highly guarded and deadly armed border cuts across Germany. ALEXANDER KAROW, 19, son of a chemistry professor, chooses to serve in the border patrols of the GDR. It is an escape from his protective father who wants to arrange an effortless and less dangerous post for his son. He expects Alexander to follow his footsteps, study chemistry and fight for the utopia of a just socialism. The reality could hardly be more disillusioning. The border troops are dominated by brutal rituals among the soldiers, tolerated by the officers. As a professor's son Alex is exposed to special bullying, but his platoon keeps together and one of the elder privates, GAPPA, befriends and protects him. Alex learns quickly that the ideals of equality, democracy and human dignity are just propaganda. And he understands that rather than protecting the GDR from the western capitalist enemy, the border is there to prevent the own population from fleeing the country. The question what happens if someone emerges in the sight of the kalashnikow engages the soldiers day and night. In all this desperation Alex meets a girl, CHRISTINE: tractor-driver, self-confident and inaccessible at first. The two get close. It is Alex' first love. Christine encourages him not to follow his father's expectations but to fulfill his dream of becoming a photographer. But then Christine'*s brother KNUT uses one of Alexander's photographs of the border installations for an oppositional campaign and things get out of control. Christine asks Alex to let her brother cross the border because Knut is persecuted by the state security. Reluctantly Alex agrees. But when Knut arrives at the specified border point, he is not alone - next to him is Christine. Alex is faced with the toughest decision in his life...
- DirectorChristian SchwochowStarsCharly HübnerMilan PeschelUlrich MatthesA comic look at the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989, told from the point of view of the German border guards at the checkpoint where it all started.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsRobert RedfordBrad PittCatherine McCormackRetiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of Tom Bishop while working against agency politics to free him from his Chinese captors.
- DirectorRoland Suso RichterStarsHeino FerchNicolette KrebitzSebastian KochDuring the Cold War, Germany was divided into two states - East and West. This epic story tells about their dramatic connections.
- DirectorReinhard HauffStarsMarius Müller-WesternhagenJulie CarmenTowje KleinerAn East German man finds a way to cross the border between East and West Berlin. But when he succeeds in bringing his wife out as well, things are not quite as expected.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsRalph FiennesJuliette BinocheWillem DafoeAt the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
- StarsPeter StormareFriedrich von ThunPeter O'TooleA profile of the life of Adolf Hitler with a unique slant, as a child and his rise through the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers Party prior to World War II.
- DirectorMenno MeyjesStarsJohn CusackNoah TaylorLeelee SobieskiA film studying the depiction of a friendship between an art dealer named Rothman and his student, Adolf Hitler.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
- DirectorMax FärberböckStarsMaria SchraderJuliane KöhlerJohanna WokalekIn 1943 Berlin, a Nazi officer's wife meets and starts a passionate affair with a Jewish woman.
- DirectorOle Christian MadsenStarsThure LindhardtMads MikkelsenStine StengadeA drama centered on two fighters in the Holger Danske World War II resistance group.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsMax von SydowGhita NørbyAnette HoffNorwegian Nobel Laureate Knut Hamsun's controversial support for the Nazi regime during World War II and its consequences for the Hamsun family after the war.
- DirectorAleksandr RogozhkinStarsAnni-Kristiina JuusoVille HaapasaloViktor BychkovIn World War II, a Finnish sniper is left chained to a rock by German soldiers, while a captain of the Red Army, en route to his court martial, is almost blown up by Russian planes. A Lapp woman gives shelter to both of them at her farm.
- DirectorRoni EzraStarsPilou AsbækLars MikkelsenJoachim FjelstrupOn April 9, 1940 Germany invaded Denmark. Based on real events - in Southern Jutland a military unit on bicycles was sent south to help hold back the Germans until reinforcement.
- DirectorPekka ParikkaStarsTaneli MäkeläVesa VierikkoTimo TorikkaIn 1939, two Finnish brothers are conscripted in the army to fight in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDominique HorwitzThomas KretschmannJochen NickelThe story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.
- DirectorErik PoppeStarsJesper ChristensenAnders BaasmoKarl MarkovicsApril 1940. Norway has been invaded by Germany and the royal family and government have fled into the interior. The German envoy to Norway tries to negotiate a peace. Ultimately, the decision on Norway's future will rest with the king.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsGérard DepardieuArmand AssanteSigourney WeaverChristopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people.
- DirectorDominik MollStarsVincent CasselSergi LópezJordi DauderMadrid, in the seventeenth century. Abandoned at the doorstep of a monastery, Ambrosio has been brought up by the Capucin Friars. After becoming a friar himself, he becomes an unrivaled preacher whose sermons draw crowds and earn him the admiration of all. Admired for his extreme rigor and absolute virtue, Ambrosio is certain he is safe from any temptation. But Satan has not said his final word...
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsLance HenriksenStephen LeeWilliam NorrisHorror film set in 1492 Toledo, Spain, depicting the cruel deeds of a monk named Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsSean ConneryChristian SlaterHelmut QualtingerAn intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
- DirectorIstván SzabóStarsHelen MirrenMartina GedeckKároly EperjesAn author forms a strange bond with her eccentric maid that will have a lasting effect on both women.
- DirectorCarsten FiebelerStarsUwe SteimleJulia RichterIna Paule KlinkOne evening in the mid-sixties, Rolf Anschütz, a chef who runs a small restaurant in a town called Suhl in the middle of the East German province of Thuringen offers his guests a unique and exotic meal - Japanese Sukiyaki. It was intent to be a surprise for some of his best customers and it became a great success. Even the local paper wrote about it - and this should change the life of Rolf Anschütz forever. A couple of days after the "event" a real Japanese turned up at the restaurant and demanded the same meal again. From this moment there was no way back. The Japanese loved Rolf Anschütz cooking and his restaurant "Der Waffenschmied" (Gunsmith) soon was honored as the place which offered the best and most authentic Japanese cuisine outside Japan. In the shortest time the Japanese have accepted Rolf Anschütz as one theirs. They celebrate the Authenzität of his kitchen and the "original" Japanese washing rituals before the meals would be served. First diplomats, later Japanese economic bosses and sports delegations were sitting in the pool of the now famous restaurant "Waffenschmied - Japanese department" - naked and side by side with government officials and the brigades of the East German working class. And because the omnipresent communist party cannot close the popular place any more, the state security better known as Stasi took also their seat in the pool. The party soon discovered Rolfs restaurant as a foreign currency bringer and allowed the import of Japanese food and exotic ingredients from a delicatessen importer from West Germany. And while Rolfs Anschütz, in the meantime, wearing kimonos and East German geisha's on his side, philosophies about the peaceful coexistence of the people in the World his restaurant turns into the only really existing "theme park" in East Germany. Who wanted to go for a meal, must order two years in advance - at the end it will be 2 million guests!
- DirectorDominik GrafStarsMax RiemeltJessica SchwarzRonald ZehrfeldA coming-of-age story set in the German Democratic Republic in the 1960s. Siggi becomes involved in a love triangle when he falls for Luise, but the tightening political climate forces him to make a fateful decision.
- DirectorChristian PetzoldStarsNina HossRonald ZehrfeldRainer BockA doctor working in 1980s East Germany finds herself banished to a small country hospital.
- DirectorCarsten FiebelerStarsTobias SchenkeAnna BrüggemannMichael GwisdekTim a West German teenager is a rich brat who aspires to be a tennis player. He meets his identical twin Ronny while on a school trip to East Germany. This chance meeting changes his life forever.
- StarsWalter RenneisenClaude-Oliver RudolphAngelika BartschSaga of a miner and his family in the Ruhr area of Western Germany in the time from the the late1800s until World War I.
- DirectorRobert ThalheimStarsFriederike BechtLuise HeyerFranz DindaWhile training for sculling championship at summer camp in Hungary in 1988 East German teenage twin sisters meet young guys vacationing from Hamburg. In the meeting of east and west the bond between sisters is tested.
- DirectorThomas BergerStarsAnja KlingMadeleine LierckMatthias KoeberlinThe Berlin Wall separated families and friends for 28 years. Some accepted it, and some worked hard to make it fall.
- DirectorHartmut SchoenStarsHeino FerchInka FriedrichIris BerbenA divided family, an escape attempt and a race against time.
- DirectorChristian SchwochowStarsJan Josef LiefersSebastian UrzendowskyClaudia MichelsenA look at Communist East Germany in its final decade. The story unfolds in 1982, when the cracks in the repressive police state's facade are beginning to surface. Despite the restrictions, the educated few still enjoy some advantages under the system. The Hoffmans gather often with family and friends for warm dinner parties rich with derisive political banter, live classical music, and spirited discussions, holding out for a better future. But even as Richard has high hopes and strict demands for studious Christian, he hides a passionate double life and shocking secrets that come back to haunt him. Against this tense climate of fear and mistrust, with the secret police lurking ominously in the background, choices are made and actions taken that have devastating repercussions.