Rolf Zacher Movies

A battle for gay rights is fought on a small-time football field in this comedy drama from Germany. Ecki (Maximilian Brückner) is a talented soccer goalie who plays with a semi-pro team in a small German town, but he finds himself on the outs with his teammates when he fails to block a kick that costs the team the league championship. Ecki's relationship with the team goes from bad to worse when they discover he's gay, and they give him his walking papers. Furious, Ecki challenges his former team to a special match in which they'll face off against an all-gay team he'll assemble for the occasion. The homophobic team agrees to the match, but Ecki soon discovers finding ten capable gay footballers is no easy task, and making them into a competitive team is even harder. Making matters a bit easier for Ecki is his sister Susanne (Lisa Maria Potthoff), who introduces him to one of her co-workers, Sven (David Rott), a good-looking male nurse who can play soccer...and happens to find Ecki attractive. Männer Wie Wir (aka Guys and Balls) was written for the screen by Benedikt Gollhardt; it was his first theatrical film after establishing himself in television. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Recalling Czech crowd-pleaser Kolya (1996), German director Christian Diedrichs creates this heartwarming tale about a depressed widower and a mute child. Since his wife died of cancer three years ago, Federmann (Christian Redl) has felt empty and lost. During the days, he drives the No. 18 tram through eastern Berlin, and at nights he drinks at a local pub as Dora (Teresa Harder), a love-struck bargirl, looks on. His life suddenly changes when he thinks that he hit a child with his trolley. Escaping the suspicious eye of a cop, he takes the child from the hospital to his flat. The result breathes life into Federmann. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Protected from the intrigues of con-men by the overwhelming blanket of the former regime in East Germany, at first it seems that Ada Fenske, the elderly widow living on a farm near a soon-to-be abandoned Russian island military base is fair game. The (West) German military intelligence services want to acquire her farm. At first, their agent attempts to buy the property openly, but her refusal to sell motivates him to try far shadier techniques. He comes up with a relative she never knew about who is entitled to a share in the property and tries to blackmail the township's mayor to get his cooperation. However, the hard-working and honest old lady has an ally in the person of her more sophisticated border, a woman who works in the mayor's office and has been to the West. She takes great delight in foiling the underhanded agent. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The result of Marie's saving the life of a falcon which has a broken wing will be that she will have some of the most exciting adventures of her life. Because of it, she will meet a punk-looking hang-glider afficionado, and together they will work to foil the activities of men whose work is to steal the eggs of raptors like her falcon for sale to wealthy Arabs, who then raise the birds to hunt for them. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Otto Sander plays a German film director who shows his films to a skeptical panel of censors in this satire. He unspools the reels of his work in front of officials and religious leaders who make up the censorship board. Many filmmakers' and celebrities' faces familiar to German audiences appear in the film. One of the most memorable scenes involves a line-up of well-known directors awaiting their own appearance before the unforgiving board. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A televised music show could be the opportunity that a female mechanic needs to break into the music world. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

In this well-photographed and sometimes confusing wartime drama, an Austrian village experiences the tragedy of war on several different levels. Within one family, the younger son is jealous of the praise his father gives to a Polish POW who is working for them under very difficult conditions. Within the village as a whole, the French, Polish, and Russian POWs are kept under guard by Nazi soldiers, creating a tense situation all around. But more importantly, the village has conspired to hide an Austrian deserter in a cave up in the mountains. This act of rebellion on the part of the deserter and the village hangs in a precarious balance that could be upset by a single traitorous comment to the Gestapo. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

An indirect condemnation of half-baked political views and the loss of traditional values, this drama centers on a trio of young people who travel the byways of the former West Germany to a gathering of neo-Nazis. Charlotte (Beate Jensen) is capable and attractive, Karl is a right-wing conservative against the very suggestion of physical hygiene, and the young fellow they pick up along the way is enthralled by their pulp-fiction politics. The trip heats up when the trio get into trouble, shoot two cops, and manage to escape capture. That traumatic event leads them to further violations of the law, and by implication, comments on the nature of neo-Nazi morality.

~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this fictionalized version of the sensational Marie Bachmeier case of the early 1980s, Marianne Grunwald (Bachmeier), played by Gudrun Landgrebe wears tight clothing and revealing blouses and occupies center stage from beginning to end. Director Burkhard Driest has placed his female star, rising in West Germany at this time, on the crest of the story. The drama opens with Marianne, her 7-year-old daughter Anna, and Marianne's live-in companion in their home in the country. Marianne has just sold a bar and has a little money to spend before she eventually buys a new place in the city -- which she does, and when the bar opens it is very popular because of Marianne's obvious physical appeal. But her personal life is not ideal, and her lover has talked about leaving. Meanwhile, a doctor and his wife want to adopt Anna. Marianne finally agrees to the adoption, and just as the couple are about to start the legal process, Anna disappears. Her strangled and sexually abused body was found later, with the accused criminal (Klaus Grabowski in real life) captured soon thereafter. Marianne is again the focus at the end of the movie, when the courtroom proceedings are set in motion and she pulls out her handgun, making a decision that will change her life forever. For some viewers, this version of Marie Bachmeier's story will trivialize the human tragedy at the core of the events, placing more emphasis on an actress' physical attributes than a mother's anguish. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this entertaining comedy, it is 1966 and in Recklinghausen, an industrial city in northwest Germany, a group of young teens is picked up by the police for some wild antics at a Rolling Stones concert. All are would-be rock musicians and during their interrogation at the police station, the teens formulate the idea of getting a band together. Sure enough, they manage to round up the necessary instruments and other paraphernalia, eventually decide on a female lead singer (though they are not exactly in agreement on how good she is), and voilà, "The Heartbreakers" is launched as a new pop group. Now all they have to do is to get their music rolling -- and maybe get over the personal problems that plague some of them, such as the lead singer's difficult home life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A group of unsuspecting small-time crooks stumble on an apparently abandoned cache of heroin. This gives them big-time ideas, and, fueled by their renewed inspiration, they take their revenge on some old enemies. In the meantime, a big-time mob boss is keeping an eye on their activities. He has set them up for a really big fall and is only waiting to spring the trap. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi