Three Great Movies
Die Welle (The Wave)
Director: Dennis Gansel
Cast: Jürgen Vogel, Frederick Lau and Max Riemelt
Release dates: 18th January 2008
Running time: 107 minutes
Genre: Thriller
Die Welle is based on the young adult novel “The Wave” by Morton Rhue and is a socio-political thriller, which deals with a social experiment about dictatorship. High school teacher Rainer Wenger is forced to teach his class about autocracy. His students do not believe that a dictatorship could be established in modern Germany. To demonstrate the opposite, he starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can be manipulated. Wenger’s experiment spins out of control when the students obsess about the feeling of belonging. Their superiority complex leads to crucial consequences and experiment starts to turn into a mini Third Reich.
Fack ju Göhte (misspelling of Fuck you, Goethe)
Director: Bora Dagtekin
Cast: Elyas M’Barek, Karoline Herfurth and Katja Riemann
Release dates: 29th October 2013
Running time: 118 minutes
Genre: Comedy
After his release from prison, Zeki Müller goes to retrieve his money he stole in order to repay a debt. Unfortunately, the money is now buried under a school. The new part of the school sits over the spot where money from his earlier robberies was stashed. In order to have access to the spot, he applies for the vacant position of a deceased janitor. Because of misunderstandings, he is given a job as a substitute teacher. At night, he digs secretly for his loot and during the day, he demonstrates his effective teaching methods to bring the cheeky and disrespectful students of class 10B back on track. His disciplined proper fellow teacher Lisi Schnabelstedt is Zeki’s completely the opposite regarding her teaching methods and perfectionist attitude towards life. The process of their relationship and the difficulties of everyday school life are full of clichés and funny moments.
Good Bye, Lenin!
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß
Release dates: 13th February 2003
Running time: 121 minutes
Genre: Tragicomedy
East Germany, 1989: Alexander Kerner protests against the regime and is being hauled by the police. His Socialist mother Christiane Kerner, who is ready to sacrifice her own life for the GDR, watches the police arresting him. As a result, she suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma. While Christiane is in her coma, Germany completely changes with the reunification of East and West. The personal life of the family is affected by the capitalist values and they need to conform to the new circumstances. After Christiane awakes, she needs to avoid every excitement because of her critical health situation. To protect his mother from another heard attack, which could lead to death, Alex tries to set up the GDR again for her in their flat. East Germany continues to exists in their home although the whole of Germany has changed. This major challenge influences not only his personal life but also the relationship to his mother.
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