Dagmar Manzel
- 2008
Oscar-winning director Florian Gallenberger explores the crucial role that foreigners played in helping countless Chinese escape a fate worse than death in this period docudrama concerning the 1937 invasion of Nanking by the ruthless Japanese Imperial Army. Casually known by historians as the "Rape of Nanking," the relentless assault on the then-Chinese capitol found countless men, women, and children slaughtered with a ferocity that shocked the entire world. Yet, despite the violence that surrounded them, some people refused to sit by silently as the innocents perished. One of those people was German engineer and Nazi party member John Rabe, who earned the nickname "The Schindler of China" for constructing a vast safety zone in which nearly a quarter of a million civilians sought sanctuary. Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Bruehl, Dagmar Manzel, and Steve Buscemi star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Bruehl, (more)
- 2000
Hans-Christian Schmid directs this Bavarian coming-of-age film based on the 1999 autobiographical best-seller by 17-year-old Benjamin Lebert. Quiet, reticent Benni (Robert Stadlober), who has a bad hand and a slight limp, is shipped out by his parents to a boarding school up in Schloss as a last ditch effort to salvage his math grades. On his first day, he meets the lithesome Malen (Oona-Devi Liebich) for whom he develops a profound and sweaty crush. He also befriends Janosch (Tom Shilling) who, along with his buddies, is riding a major hormone high, fuelled by contraband beer and nudie magazines. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Schilling
- 1998
Traveling down DePalma-like pathways, director Rainer Kaufmann made this dark comedy-thriller about 30-year-old small-town pharmacist Hella Moormann (Katja Riemann), unlucky with men. She finally beds Levin (Jürgen Vogel), who's in debt to imprisoned drug-dealer Dieter (Richy Mueller). Hella is shocked when Levin suggests that they kill his wealthy grandfather Hermann Graber (Joachim Tomaschewsky) to get his mansion and money. So when Graber dies, Hella suspects Levin. Soon Dieter joins Levin and Hella in the mansion, and the events become even more convoluted after Hella catches Levin making out with Dieter's sexy wife Margot (Isabella Parkinson). Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katja Riemann, Jürgen Vogel, (more)
- 1992
In this slapstick satire, Fritz is a life-long forger of Nazi memorabilia. He got his start as a boy, selling items of clothing as something Hitler wore. His current income-generating scam is to sell "original" portraits by Hitler of his mistress Eva Braun to connoisseurs of Nazi art. He runs into an ambitious journalist who works for a tabloid-style magazine (a thinly disguised "Der Stern"), and the two of them concoct a scam which will garner headlines for the journalist and plenty of cash for the forger. With some care, Fritz creates "Hitler's Diaries," and his creations become a household word before the scam is uncovered. Film buffs may recognize the title of this film as a term Charlie Chaplin used in The Great Dictator to refer to Hitler. This satire hews pretty closely to the actual news story it is based on, but the movie plays it strictly for laughs, a tactic which won great popularity for it in Germany. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Götz George, Uwe Ochsenknecht, (more)
- 1991
Made in the waning days of East Germany's existence as a separate country, this film is perhaps indicative of a mood, a time, and a place which will be particularly meaningful to residents of that country at that time. Others may find its allusions mystifying. Based on a book by Jurij Koch entitled Eye Operation, this political allegory tells the story of a teen-aged boy who is recovering from a savage beating in a garbage dump, and who needs an eye operation in order to repair some of the damage. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Stieren, Dagmar Manzel, (more)
It seems like a good thing when Philip (Mathias Freihof), a high-school teacher, bumps into Tanja (Dagmar Manzel), starts a relationship with her, and eventually moves in with her. But Philip has a secret he hasn't even told himself. He attended a transvestite ball and met a man named Matthias (Dirk Kummer) there, with whom he also has been having an affair. He can't bring himself to tell either one about the other one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dagmar Manzel
- 1987
In this children's story, a boy gets adopted by a big black dog and takes the animal home, only to be told by his parents that under no circumstances can he keep it. A sympathetic neighbor, a former carnival worker, agrees to board the dog for him, but since "life is not a free ride," the boy must find some ways to make money to pay for this service. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dagmar Manzel
