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DVD Shop > German-Language Films
Films from German-speaking Europe on DVD
Movies from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
Featured DVD > S.O.S. Iceberg (Region 1)
with Leni Riefenstahl. Directed by Arnold Fanck.
Below you’ll find a selection of films from German-speaking countries. In association with Amazon.com and Amazon.de, our DVD Store offers a wide array of DVDs from the silent era to current box-office hits. DVDs listed here are clearly marked as either NTSC/Region 1 (Amazon.com) or PAL/Region 2 (Amazon.de, Germany). PAL DVDs will NOT play on regular US or Canadian DVD players. German Region 2 DVDs can be played on most US DVD-ready computers, a PAL/Region 2 player, or on a multi-system DVD player.
Also see our German-Hollywood Poster Shop and German-Hollywood Bookstore
M O V I E S i n G E R M A N
NOTE: All Amazon.com DVDs (Region 1) are in German with English subtitles. Amazon.de (PAL/Region 2) DVDs may have German subtitles (for hearing impaired) but usually not English subtitles.
Advertising Rules! (2001)
A German satiric comedy about a fast-talking would-be German ad man and the world of advertising. Directed by Lars Kraume. German title: Viktor Vogel - Commercial Man. Stars Alexander Scheer, Götz George, and Chulpan Khamatova. BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (Region 1)
Alles auf Zucker! (2005, Go for Zucker! US DVD release)
Director: Dani Levy. Comedy with Henry Hübchen and Hannelore Elsner. “Zwei verfeindete Brüder müssen sich versöhnen, um ihre Mutter zu beerben.”
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Anatomy (2000, Anatomie)
Not for the squeamish, this German horror flick stars Franka Potente of "Run Lola Run" fame. German with English subtitles.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Bellaria - Solange wir leben! (Austria, 2001)
Director: Douglas Wolfsperger. “There is a small, inconspicuous cinema [named the Bellaria] in a small side-street in Vienna that seems to have stood still with time. A group of old Ufa film fans meet there on a regular basis, where for a few Schilling they are whisked back to their youth... The documentary is a discovery trip to a place with morbid charm and portrays the colorful life stories of its comical and eccentric regular guests. Little by little, the film uncovers their true desires: to stop the wheel of time for just a few moments...” See my full review (at About.com).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Beyond Silence (1997, Jenseits der Stille)
A girl receives a clarinet from her aunt and becomes obsessed with it, leading to tensions with her deaf parents. An award-winning film in German with English subtitles.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Bibi Blocksberg (2002)
Director: Hermine Huntgeburth. This Kinderfilm (children's film) was a big hit with audiences. The stories about a young witch became popular on audio cassettes and have now been translated to the screen. Stars the well known German actress Katja Riemann (interviewed on the DVD), with the young newcomer Sidonie von Krosigk as Bibi. BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Big Girls Don’t Cry (2002, Große Mädchen weinen nicht)
Director: Maria von Heland. Amazon: ”Kati and Steffi are best friends since childhood. But as they step into adulthood, both their perfect friendship and their personalities get harshly tested by a series of unfortunate events - mainly caused by Steffi finding out her father wasn’t quite faithful to her mother, and the two girls getting hit by the consequences of her delirious revenge plans. When things get out of hand, the two girls find themselves in the middle of a mess.” BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
Black Box BRD (2001, TV)
Director: Andres Veiel. A film about the true story of Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen, who only had one thing in common: they were both killed by the RAF violence in the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD) in the 1970s and '80s. At that time the country was polarized by a power struggle between the German state and the "Red Army Faction." - WEB: Black Box BRD (official site).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Blindspot - Hitler’s Secretary (2002, Austria - Im toten Winkel: Hitlers Sekretärin)
Director: André Heller. An unadorned but revealing documentary interview with Traudl Junge, who was once Hitler’s secretary. See my full review (About.com).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
Bridge, The (1959, Die Brücke)
Brücke, Die (1959, The Bridge)
Director: Bernhard Wicki. Based on an autobiographical novel by Manfred Gregor, The Bridge depicts seven Bavarian schoolboys in the last days of World War II and their assignment to defend a strategically useless bridge at the edge of town. Unknown to them, the plan was to withdraw them and blow up the bridge; however, due to a mishap the boys were not withdrawn, and all but one died defending it. An award-winning film in German with English subtitles (U.S. DVD).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Bungalow (2002)
Director: Ulrich Köhler. Paul (Lennie Baumeister) deserts from the German army on the spur of the moment and heads home to his parents’ bungalow. His attempts to mull over his future are disrupted by the arrival of his brother Max and his Danish girlfriend - and the military police. See my full review (at About.com). BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
The Counterfeiters (2007, Die Fälscher) New!
The 2008 Oscar for “Best Foreign Language Picture” went to this Austrian film. Written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, the Austrian-German production (filmed in part in Berlin) is based on the true story of WWII concentration camp prisoners given the task of forging millions of pound and dollar notes to support the German war effort.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Das Leben der Anderen (2006, The Lives of Others)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Stars Martina Gedeck (Bella Martha), Ulrich Mühe and Sebastian Koch. An Oscar-winning film about how the Stasi (East German secret police) spied on the lives of the country's citizens. Praised by critics for its lack of "Ostalgia." Opened in German cinemas in March 2006. Featured at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2006. Limited US theatrical release in 2007. Very different from the more upbeat Good Bye Lenin! (see below). See my full review (at About.com).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Downfall (2004, Der Untergang)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel. Swiss actor Bruno Ganz ("Wings of Desire") is Hitler in his final days in Berlin. This German film on a very touchy German subject has caused quite a stir in its homeland. The film, with an all-star German cast, is based on the non-fiction bestseller Der Untergang by Joachim Fest and the memoirs of Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge (Blind Spot). Opened Sept. 16, 2004 in Germany. A subtitled US release had a brief run in 2005. Now available on Region 1 DVD for the US. See my full review (at About.com). BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
Emil and the Detectives (2001, Emil und die Detektive)
Director: Franziska Buch. Erich Kästner’s children’s stories have been the source of many movies — in Germany, England and Hollywood. (The newest: Das fliegende Klassenzimmer, below.) This German screen update of a Kästner story first filmed in 1931 (and by Disney in 1964) tells the story of a boy who joins with newfound friends to get his revenge on the bad guy who picked his pocket during a train trip to the big city (Berlin). See my full review (at About.com).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Europa Europa (1990, Hitlerjunge Salomon)
Director: Agnieszka Holland. Amazon: “A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a ‘war hero’ and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth. Although improbabilities and happenstance are cornerstones of the film, it is based upon a true story.”
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Experiment, The (2001, Das Experiment)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel. Based on the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which normal people are put in a prison environment for two weeks to see just what will happen. Moritz Bleibtreu ("Lola rennt") plays one of the actors playing a prisoner and incites sadistic violence between guards and prisoners.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Die Fälscher (2007, The Counterfeiters) New!
See The Counterfeiters above.
fliegende Klassenzimmer, Das (2003)
Director: Tomy Wigand. This update of Erich Kästner’s classic “Flying Classroom” story is the third film version. Filmed in Leipzig and Munich, the newest movie was released in 2003. Earlier German versions appeared in 1954 and 1973 (and they are also on DVD). See my full movie review (at About.com).
BUY > 2003 Version DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
BUY > 1954 Version DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
BUY > 1973 Version DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
Director: Wolfgang Becker. This film had its debut at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival in 2003 and had a good run in German and even UK cinemas. It tells the story of a son whose mother awakes from a coma and his desperate efforts to protect her weakened heart from the shock of the victory of capitalism and the fact that she slept through the fall of the Wall. Most critics and audiences seemed to like it. See my full review (at About.com). BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
Also see More German Movies on VHS and DVD (Part 2)
Heimat - A Chronicle of Germany (1984)
Edgar Reitz’s Heimat trilogy is an award-winning film/TV series that chronicles several generations of a German family. It is now available in the US with subtitles. (Note: This DVD box set plays in all regions!) One word of caution: Some Amazon customer reviews complain about the DVD transfer quality of this Facets DVD and recommend the German PAL versions (below) as superior.
BUY > DVD Box Set from Amazon.com (Multiregion DVD - US and Germany)
Heimat 1 - Eine deutsche Chronik (1984)
Edgar Reitz’s Heimat trilogy is an award-winning film/TV series that chronicles several generations of a German family. (5 DVDs) BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Heimat 2 - Chronik einer Jugend (1992)
Part 2 of Edgar Reitz’s Heimat trilogy. (7 DVDs) BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Heimat 3 - Chronik einer Zeitwende (2004)
Director Edgar Reitz has produced a new third part of what is now his Heimat trilogy, an award-winning film/TV series that chronicles several generations of a German family. Heimat 3 (six episodes) is not just a sequel to the first two parts, but is described as “a narrative inventory of the century in its final decade,” including the opening of the Berlin Wall (“vom Mauerfall bis zur Jahrtausendwende”). Heimat first appeared in 1984 and was highly praised. The second part (Die zweite Heimat) came out in the early 1990s. Heimat 3: Chronik einer Zeitenwende was filmed at a variety of locations in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The trilogy’s popularity stems in part from its collective remembrances of recent German history and events that most Germans have experienced themselves in some way. Cast: Salome Kammer, Henry Arnold, Michael Keusch, Matthias Kniesbeck. - Reitz has also published a book version of all three films: Die Heimat Trilogie (Heyne, Munich; 592 Seiten; 128 Euro) BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (3 DVDs, PAL/Region 2)
In July (2000, Im Juli)
Director: Fatih Akin. Stars Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run) and Christiane Paul. Amazon: “Daniel is a young teacher, who in contrast to everyone else plans to stay in Hamburg for the summer. Juli, a girl at the flea-market, wants to get known to Daniel and manages to sell him a Mayan ring with a sun on it, foretelling him that he will meet a girl with a sun. One day later Daniel is already on his way across Europe. It seems the prophecy came true somehow.” BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (Region 1)
Im toten Winkel: Hitlers Sekretärin (2002)
Director: André Heller. English title: BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY. (Also see U.S. DVD above.) An unadorned but revealing documentary interview with Traudl Junge, once Hitler's secretary. See my full review. BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Joyeux Noel (2005, Merry Christmas) New!
Director: Christian Carion. Stars Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, and others. Amazon: “In 1914, World War I, the bloodiest war ever at that time in human history, was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorized, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood. This film dramatizes one such section as the French, British and German sides partake in the unique event, even though they are aware that their superiors will not tolerate its occurrence.” US DVD in French with English and other subtitles.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (Region 1)
Leben der Anderen, Das (2006, The Lives of Others) New!
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Stars Martina Gedeck (Bella Martha), Ulrich Mühe and Sebastian Koch. A prize-winning film about how the Stasi (East German secret police) spied on the lives of the country's citizens. Very different from the more upbeat Good Bye Lenin! (see above). BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Miracle of Bern, The (2004, Das Wunder von Bern)
Director: Sönke Wortmann. The “miracle of Bern” refers to Germany’s win over Hungary during the world championship soccer games of 1954. See Das Wunder von Bern below for more and the German DVD. Not currently available on DVD in the U.S.
Mostly Martha (2001, aka "Bella Martha" or "Fünf Sterne")
Director: Sandra Nettelbeck. This bittersweet film linking food and love a la Chocolat or Babette's Feast was a sleeper hit in Germany and has won several foreign film awards. Set in a ritzy French restaurant in Hamburg, Nettelbeck’s first film has been appearing in cinemas around the globe. It tells the story of Martha (Martina Gedeck), whose entire life revolves around cooking. But her life gets turned upside down by events inside and outside the restaurant where she is head chef.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Naked (2000, Nackt)
Director: Doris Dörrie. This relationship film by the well-known director Dörrie met with mixed reviews. Three couples meet for dinner and bare all — including their souls. Does Naked measure up to her earlier comedies (Männer)? See my full review (at About.com). BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Nibelungen, Die - Der Fluch des Drachen (2004, Ring of the Nibelungs)
This German made-for-TV movie is based on the classic Germanic Nibelungenlied legend (think Wagnerian opera and the "Ring" cycle). First filmed in the silent era by Fritz Lang, this new film version by Uli Edel stars the German Benno Fürmann as Siegfried, Norwegian-American Kristanna Loken as Brunnhild, and American Alicia Witt (Vanilla Sky) as Kriemhild.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Nowhere in Africa (2001, Nirgendwo in Afrika)
Director: Caroline Link. This German film, which won an Oscar for best foreign language film, takes place in Kenya. A German-Jewish family seeks refuge from the Nazis “nowhere in Africa” and faces cultural and marital difficulties. Actually, it’s a better movie than it sounds! See my full review (at About.com). BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (Region 1)
Princess and the Warrior, The (2000, Der Krieger + die Kaiserin)
Amazon: "Young nurse Sissi lives a secluded life, seemingly entirely devoted to her patients at Birkenhof asylum. Her first encounter with ex-soldier and drifter Bodo has a lasting impact. He causes an accident that results in her lying under a truck, unable to breathe. While he provides life-saving first aid, mesmerized Sissi begins to wonder whether he may be the man of her dreams. But when she..."
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Rosenstraße (US DVD release 2005)
Director: Margarethe von Trotta. This German drama staring Katja Riemann tells the true story of a 1943 Berlin uprising against the Nazis in 1943. The "Rosenstraße" title refers to the Berlin street where a Jewish detention center was located. A group of non-Jewish women who had Jewish husbands staged a desperate rebellion in front of the detention center that held their loved ones. WEB > Official Site (USA)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (Region 1)
Schuh des Manitu, Der (2001)
Director: Michael Herbig. The biggest German box-office hit since Lola rennt! It’s a funny film, but the German humor doesn’t translate very well unless you’re familiar with Karl May, Winitou, Old Surehand, and the entire German western thing. See our closer look at this German comedy western: Der Schuh des Manitu (at About.com). - BUY > 'Schuh des Manitu' DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (2004)
Director Marc Rothemund received a lot of praise for this new cinematic telling of the activities of the “White Rose” anti-Nazi group in Munich. Although it deals with the same topic as the earlier Weiße Rose film by Michael Verhoeven, this version concentrates more on the “last days,” the five short days between Sophie’s arrest and execution, as one would expect from the title. Stars Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs. (Also see the Weiße Rose DVD below.)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2) 2-disc set
S.O.S. Iceberg (1933, SOS Eisberg)
Directed by Arnold Fanck. A Greenland expedition and adventure starring Leni Riefenstahl and Ernst Udet. The U.S. DVD version is in German with English subtitles.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.com (US, Region 1)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
(T)Raumschiff Surprise (2004)
Director: Michael Herbig. This German comedy hit is based on a series of Star Trek parodies done on German TV by the comedy team of Michael “Bully” Herbig, Christian Tranitz, and Rick Kavanian. German star Til Schweiger joins the cast for the movie version. (Their “Bullyparade” was a sort of German “Saturday Night Live” television hit.) The 20 "(T)Raumschiff" skits have now been turned into a full-length feature film. This movie also has the honor of being the first German film to be pirated within days of its theatrical release (22 July 2004). From the makers of Der Schuh des Manitu (2001).
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL)
You can also watch four hours from the original "Bullyparade" TV series:
BUY > DVD: Best of Bullyparade - 2-disc set (PAL, Region 2)
Vaya con Dios (2000)
Director: Zoltan Spirendelli. Three monks and a girl in a funny romantic road movie? Well, it's a little more complicated than that. See my review (at About.com) of this good film.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Weiße Rose, Die (1982)
Director: Michael Verhoeven. This was the first cinematic telling of the activities of the “White Rose” anti-Nazi group in Munich. Also an excellent film, it deals with the same topic as the newer Sophie Scholl film by Marc Rothemund, but covers more about the days leading up to Sophie’s arrest and execution. Stars Lena Stolze and Wulf Kessler. (Also see the Sophie Scholl DVD above.)
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
Wunder von Bern, Das (2004)
Director: Sönke Wortmann. The “miracle of Bern” refers to Germany’s win over Hungary during the world championship soccer games of 1954. The surprise win over favored Hungary meant far more than a mere soccer victory for a Germany that was still recovering from the psychological and physical damage wrought by a world war, and trying to regain its self-esteem.
BUY > DVD from Amazon.de (PAL, Region 2)
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