Eva Mattes Movies

The story of the first American soldier to be killed in the Iraqi war sets the stage for a studied exploration of just what it means to be an emigrant in search of the American dream in director Heidi Specogna's look at the life of slain soldier José Antonio Gutierrez. When his face made the nightly news, Gutierrez was mourned as an ambitious Guatemalan boy who dreamt of growing up to be an American and fighting for the freedom that America represented to him. As filmmaker Specogna comes into possession of two photographs of Gutierrez -- one as a young orphan and another as a grown soldier -- she speaks with the people who knew him best in hopes of getting the true story of his short and tragic life. The result is a revealing look at the harsh socioeconomic conditions that drive desperate individuals such as Gutierrez to brave the treacherous journey to America in hopes of building a better life for the ones they love. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A made-on-HD video documentary about fascinating European filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, directed by the equally notable Rosa von Prauheim, this feature attempts to shed light on his rocky life in a tell-all fashion. The film interviews several artists who worked with Fassbinder, dating back to the mid-'60s, when the director was invited to participate in the experimental Action Theatre group, which he quickly seized control of. He was known to have uncontrollable mood swings that could alienate others without warning, to take out aggressions on his cast and crew, and to demand sexual favors and money whenever required. The movie also focuses on the women in his life, especially actress Hanna Schygulla, who made quite a career out of her work for the tumultuous director. Known widely as a gay man, Fassbinder still required the attention of females, whom he often proposed to and turned to for comfort. Among the figures that the documentary interviews are actress Jeanne Moreau, whom Fassbinder cast in his final film Querelle, famous cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and producer Peter Berling, the latter of whom doesn't recount the happier times with the troubled but brilliant director, who he died of an overdose in 1982.
~ Jason Clark, Rovi

Frieder Schlaich directs this horrific look at racism in modern Germany. Loosely based on a real-life incident that scandalized Stuttgart in 1989, the film recounts the final day of a Liberian political refugee. Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) cannot find even the most modest of jobs because of his race. Everyone from his fellow boarding house patrons to his fellow churchgoers treat him with contempt and disdain. His long-simmering rage boils over when he finds himself involved in a scuffle with a racist subway ticket collector. Otomo flees the scene after slightly injuring the man, leaving his identification papers behind in the process. Soon ultra-ambitious cop Heinz is hot on his trail, hoping to boost his career by nailing a "dangerous fugitive." ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

This film takes place in 1935 in a once-tranquil valley in the Black Forest, where Jewish cattle dealer Levi goes every year to do business. This year, he also wants to propose to Lisbeth Horger. But the valley seems to have changed. Workers from the National Railway are repairing damage in the train tunnel, and their presence has changed the spirit of the closed-off valley. The town hopes for an economic upswing, but the workers also introduce Nazi ideology. Farmer Horger will no longer sell his cattle to Jews. Swastika flags appear on the tables of the local pub. Someone slashes the tires of Levi's car. Nobody will defend Levi except Lisbeth, but the era does not favor their union. People are caught in the confrontation between the old and the new order; they end up doing things they don't really want to do. Thomas Strittmatter, author of the play on which the film is based, constructed the narrative from recollections of stories told by his family and neighbors about a Jewish cattle dealer, Levi. The theme of the film has universal qualities; the outsider and his wish to integrate are applicable to many contemporary ethnic conflicts. Viehjud Levi was screened at the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 49th Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Though they have safely reestablished themselves in Austria, a Serbian family find themselves unable to escape the horrifying conflict that ripped the former Yugoslavia apart. In making his tragic drama, screenwriter/director Goran Rebic used no actual war footage and shows less than a minute of fighting. Young Milan and his family immigrated to Austria a while ago and feel out of touch with the increasing violence in their homeland. Still the news is sufficiently bad that they decide to try to get Milan's grandmother and his older brother Sascha out of the country. En route, Sascha is apparently kidnapped and does not show up until a year later, with a Bosnian wife in tow. Despite the family's joy at his return, they soon notice disturbing changes in Sascha. Neighborhood scuttlebutt races rampantly that Sascha committed terrible war crimes. The extremely nationalistic Bora, Sascha's father is not overly disturbed by the allegations, believing them to be a sign of Sascha's Serbian loyalties. Bora proves to be the catalyst for tragedy, one that overwhelms friends, family and the increasingly depressive and obviously traumatized Sascha. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Two star-crossed lovers, separated by the Berlin wall for thirty years are reunited. The major events in their separate lives become the focus in this German political drama. The story begins in August 1961 as the Wall is being built. In Eastern Berlin a group of young adults plans their escape. Included in the group are Konrad and Sophie who has an aunt on the other side. It is the aunt who will sponsor the escapees. Escape will be the only way Konrad and Sophie will be able to stay together. Konrad is involved in a mishap en route and must remain in East Berlin. In 1968, the lovers at last get a chance to briefly meet in Prague. There they express their frustration and pain. At least there, in Prague they can find occasional happiness. Suddenly Russian tanks appear and destroy their new dream. 1980 comes. Sophie and Konrad have since married other people. Their next meeting is bittersweet as they look back upon their promise which was broken by circumstance, and by the decisions each lover had to make. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this resonant drama, decades after the fact, Paul fondly recalls his grandfather's monomaniacal obsession with his craft of "telling" the stories of silent movies with his violin, occasionally supplementing the violin with his storytelling voice. When talkies newly appear on the scene, his grandfather (Armin Mueller-Stahl) heatedly disdains their evident lack of moviemaking craft, discussing these matters with the proprietor of the little Apollo theater, who is nervous about costs and the possibility of going out of business altogether. Meanwhile, social storms of all sorts rage in Germany around them, from hyperinflation to the political ferment which first saw Hitler appointed to government office. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In 1984, Anna Wimschneider, a woman who had been a farmgirl in Bavaria during World War Two published an autobiography which focused on her life during that period, and it became a huge bestseller. Her story, Herbstmilch, is brought to the screen by her fellow Bavarian, director Joseph Vilsmaier. At the beginning of the story, Anna (Dana Vavrova) is the oldest daughter of a widowed farmer, and toils ceaselessly looking after her father and her many younger brothers. She abandons her dream of becoming a nurse when she falls in love with and marries her neighbor, Albert (Werner Stucker), who is also a farmer. Before she can get too used to things, her new husband is drafted, and she is left as the only completely able-bodied person on the farm, and must support not only her hostile mother-in-law, but a whole host of new aunts and uncles. Enduring even more incredible and backbreaking labor on this primitive farm than on her father's farm, and pregnant, somehow she survives. Both Anna and her beloved Albert appear in significant cameos in this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This is an emotionally wrenching drama about a woman dying of a brain tumor. The single mother (Eva Mattes) does not tell her young son or anyone else about her condition. Instead, she travels to Hamburg and leaves her son in their hotel room while she goes off for a tryst with his father, the man she truly loves. Since she does not let the child's father know why she has come back into his life, he does not follow up on their momentary meeting. After all, he has his own girlfriend and his own life to live. The inevitable moment comes when the dying mother must tell her son about his father, and the son's pursuit of his dad begins. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In one of his wittiest films since the 1977 Bye Bye Bavaria, writer and director Herbert Achternbusch focuses on a couple who have separated, but they meet again in Paris, find they are still in love, and go out to enjoy the city. The hitch is that one of them has had a sex change in the meantime, so they are now a lesbian couple. The former male, a bored and frustrated writer in more than one sense, adopted the name of the woman he loved, Rita, after he became female. It is Rita whom he/she discovers on the stage in Paris, culminating in a happy reunion between one old Rita and another newly created. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This film is a superficial extravaganza on the "roaring 1950s" in West Germany and West Berlin, when the rich, according to director Peter Zadek, were partying through the decade with little else on their minds than hedonistic pleasures, and the poor were struggling to become richer. Documentary clips bring in the realities of the Berlin Wall and the Cold War, and their honesty stands in sharp contrast to the exaggerated lifestyles that permeate the screen. The story focuses on the super-rich Jakob Formann (Juraj Kurkura) and his exploits and friends in high and low places. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

While beating a hasty retreat to the Baltic Sea in the fall, two young men leave Berlin with a good time on their minds - one is a student and the other is a simple locksmith. Their motorcycle has room for a woman they meet along the way, bored with her waitress job and wanting a little diversion. The three stretch out a thin wad of cash, and manage to get through a phalanx of authorities on the look-out for anyone traveling without the necessary papers. Unfortunately, life seldom has room for free spirits and the friends discover that they are going to have to get back to Berlin - and as it happens, a meeting with fate. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi