Tag Archives: Germany

Der Henker von London / The Mad Executioners (1963) Edwin Zbonek, Hansjörg Felmy, Maria Perschy, Dieter Borsche, Crime, Horror

der-henker-von-london-aka-the-mad-executioners-1963
A band of hooded men have formed a court and they are exacting justice upon the criminals who have escaped the reach of the law. The sentence they exact is death by hanging. Using the hangman’s rope from the Scotland Yard Museum they leave their victims hanging from various locations with a file detailing the case against them pinned to the body. Scotland Yard is stumped and have assigned their best man to break the case. Meanwhile another fiend is on the loose, one who is neatly severing the heads of young women. The bodies are found the heads are not.
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The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) Ken Loach, Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Drama, History, War

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
In 1920, rural Ireland is the vicious battlefield of republican rebels against the British security forces and Irish Unionist population who oppose them, a recipe for mutual cruelty. Medical graduate Damien O’Donovan always gave priority to his socialist ideals and simply helping people in need. Just when he’s leaving Ireland to work in a highly reputed London hospital, witnessing gross abuse of commoners changes his mind. He returns and joins the local IRA brigade, commanded by his brother Teddy, and adopts the merciless logic of civil war, while Teddy mellows by experiencing first-hand endless suffering. When IRA leaders negotiate an autonomous Free State under the British crown, Teddy defends the pragmatic best possible deal at this stage. Damien however joins the large seceding faction which holds nothing less than a socialist republic will do. The result is another civil war, bloodily opposing former Irish comrades in arms, even the brothers.
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Die Blechtrommel / The Tin Drum (1979) Volker Schlöndorff, David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Drama, War

die-blechtrommel-aka-the-tin-drum-1979
Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War II. So he refuses the society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time. However, (almost) nobody listens to him, so the catastrophe goes on…
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Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern / Dora or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (2015) Stina Werenfels, Victoria Schulz, Jenny Schily, Lars Eidinger, Drama, Family, Romance

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After her mother decides that eighteen-year-old mentally disabled Dora no longer has to take sedating drugs, the young woman begins to blossom. But when pleasure-loving Dora discovers her sexuality her strive for independence becomes increasingly risky. Her mother struggles to protect her: the family is threatened to fall apart.
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Laissez-passer / Safe Conduct (2002) Bertrand Tavernier, Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydès, Charlotte Kady, Biography, Drama, History

Laissez-passer (2002)
In occupied France, German-run Continental Films calls the shots in the movie business. Assistant director and Resistance activist Jean Devaivre works for Continental, where he can get “in between the wolf’s teeth and avoid being chewed up”. Fast-living screenwriter Jean Aurenche uses every possible argument to avoid working for the enemy. For both, wartime is a battle for survival.
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Rok spokojnego slonca / Year of the Quiet Sun (1984) Krzysztof Zanussi, Maja Komorowska, Scott Wilson, Hanna Skarzanka, Drama, Romance, War

rok-spokojnego-slonca-aka-year-of-the-quiet-sun-1984
Shortly after WWII an American soldier (Norman) and a Polish refugee (Emilia) fall in deep love. Eventually he will return to USA and both expect that she will soon follow him. Emilia’s mother is sick but would recover by available medicine. Somehow the mother but not Emilia knows that there will only be one ticket. Realising that Emilia would never abandon her, the mother secretly throws away the daily doses given her by Emilia – and dies. Somehow Emilia discovers her mother’s sacrifice and refuses to benefit from it. She gives the ticket to a female friend and retreats to a cloister, living like the nuns except not wearing their dress and not having given a promise to stay forever. For decades she will apparently live in peace. Then a nun tells her that Norman has died and has bequeathed his fortune to Emilia. The nun suggests that Emilia gives the money to the cloister. But from that moment Emilia’s religious devotion flies away. She only thinks of going as speedily as possible to …
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Fleisch / Spare Parts (1979) Rainer Erler, Jutta Speidel, Wolf Roth, Herbert Herrmann, Horror, Thriller

fleisch-1979
A honeymooning couple (Jutta Speidel and Wolf Roth) are hunted down by mysterious kidnappers in cahoots with the evil landlady who runs a hotel. The woman manages to escape, but the man is whisked away by two medics in an ambulance. The bride enlists the help of a truck driver with a CB radio and uncovers a fiendish international plot to provide black-market organs. The ghouls take parts from the bodies of healthy young and extremely unwilling human victims.
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Angst vor der Angst / Fear of Fear (1975) Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margit Carstensen, Ulrich Faulhaber, Brigitte Mira, Drama

angst-vor-der-angst-aka-fear-of-fear-1975
Margot, who lives in a comfortable middle class apartment, fears that she is losing her mind after having had her second child. Her husband Kurt, who is busy studying for an exam, does not understand her situation. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law Lore are openly hostile to her. She resorts to valium and drink, and looks for sympathy, but to no avail.
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