Hans Michael Rehberg Movies

In this German comedy-drama, adapted from a Dietrich Schwanitz novel, Hamburg sociology professor Hanno Hackmann (Heiner Lauterbach) pleases his social-climbing wife Gabrielle (Sibylle Canonica) when he reveals he intends to compete against corrupt Schacht (Rudolf Kowalski) for position of university president. But what about his affair with drama student Babsi (Sandra Speichert)? Babsi, portraying a rape victim in a college play, is dropped from the cast, has a breakdown, and lands in a psych ward. This chain of events prompts rumors she was sexually harassed and innocent Hackmann is the suspect. Naturally, Schacht latches onto the rumor in order to crush his opponent prior to the university president election. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportunity to make money from the Nazis' rise to power. He starts a company to make cookware and utensils, using flattery and bribes to win military contracts, and brings in accountant and financier Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to help run the factory. By staffing his plant with Jews who've been herded into Krakow's ghetto by Nazi troops, Schindler has a dependable unpaid labor force. For Stern, a job in a war-related plant could mean survival for himself and the other Jews working for Schindler. However, in 1942, all of Krakow's Jews are assigned to the Plaszow Forced Labor Camp, overseen by Commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), an embittered alcoholic who occasionally shoots prisoners from his balcony. Schindler arranges to continue using Polish Jews in his plant, but, as he sees what is happening to his employees, he begins to develop a conscience. He realizes that his factory (now refitted to manufacture ammunition) is the only thing preventing his staff from being shipped to the death camps. Soon Schindler demands more workers and starts bribing Nazi leaders to keep Jews on his employee lists and out of the camps. By the time Germany falls to the allies, Schindler has lost his entire fortune -- and saved 1,100 people from likely death. Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture and a long-coveted Best Director for Spielberg, and it quickly gained praise as one of the finest American movies about the Holocaust. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Not much happens in this slice-of-life romantic drama between a charisma-challenged East German archaeologist and a West German futurologist, which may in fact be the point. Both of them are single parents. They meet at a playground while tending to their children, and Elsa makes the moves for them to have a first date. Over coffee, they say little and don't seem to enjoy one another much: it's not a hilarious good time. However, perhaps their standards are much, much lower than usual, and they only want not to be grossly offended by the other. Whatever the reason, the two are soon an "item," barely speaking as they care for their children and share meals, occasionally rather dutifully making love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this mystery/thriller based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, Nico Thomkins (Udo Schenk), a writer, and his wife Helen (Anke Sevenich) are in the habit of playing games with one another. Even while they are breaking up, they are sufficiently in tune with one another to continue this practice. When the writer's wife takes off without leaving a note behind, people begin to suspect that he may have murdered her, and he plays along with this notion to the point of planting clues which would incriminate him. Obviously, no one with a shred of common sense would do such a thing, and these tricks get him into trouble. However, his troubles don't really begin until he starts to search for her in earnest. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this "film essay," director Alexander Kluge handles two different stories with both fictional and documentary aspects. In one story, a foster parent cares for a traumatized young girl who is now an orphan after witnessing a car crash that killed both her parents. After the foster-parent does the right thing and takes the girl to her aunt -- her court-appointed guardian -- she is shocked to see that neither the wealthy aunt nor her servants are very interested in the girl. An unusual decision follows. In the other story, a director goes blind in the middle of a film project but has to be kept on because of his contract. This situation leads to some philosophizing on the nature of film and art in the modern world. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The powerful depiction of a story that split a country, the movie was equally controversial. Based on the well-publicized Baader-Meinhof terrorists, it is the tale of five terrorists who were brought to trial and accused of the murder of four United States servicemen in a terrorist bombing. One of the defendants dies of malnutrition after a hunger strike. A second dies of apparent suicide, leaving only three defendants at the time of the trial. The trial itself was almost travesty in that everything from defense attorneys who would abide by no rules, the presiding judge being removed and defense attorneys and prosecutors switching with almost daily regularity happened during this long and complicated court battle. The action and drama, however, are outstanding and this movie garnered multiple awards and nominations. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

In this dull melodrama, a young woman is rescued from a troubled Hungary in 1956, brought to Austria by the journalist who saved her, and then the two fall in love and marry. Before much time has passed, the journalist dies unexpectedly, and, with no viable alternative, his widow goes to live with her father-in-law and eventually becomes a high-school teacher. Meanwhile, the woman's first love back in Hungary had been arrested in the 1956 disturbances, and after 15 years he is released from prison. When he finds his way back to her again, the two try to renew their old romance, even taking a trip to Italy together -- but nothing turns out as they thought. An underpar script and uninspired acting in the two leads sap the dramatic potential of this story, making it difficult to sustain interest in the fortunes of the protagonists. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This story filmed in the style of a docudrama, is about a German pediatrician so intent on helping sick patients die that his enthusiasm goes against human compassion. Dr. Schumann (Hans-Michael Rehberg) starts an official organization chartered to assist patients in committing suicide, if that is their determined wish. Young Pierre (Klaus Rohrmoser) works for Dr. Schumann, and his first assignment is to unplug the life-support system from a patient in intensive care. Pierre has no problem in carrying out his mission, but when another terminally-ill patient changes his mind about euthanasia at the last minute, Dr. Schumann tells Pierre to ignore the man's change of opinion. If this was not upsetting enough, Pierre unfortunately falls in love with a lovely woman and then finds out she is one of Dr. Schumann's patients scheduled for euthanasia. From that point onward, Pierre and the doctor are set on a collision course that cannot be avoided. Given the controversial nature of the subject matter, this film is sure to draw attention -- even though it sadly skims the surface on the ethical and moral questions raised within the storyline. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this drama with an undercurrent of incest, a truck driver spends so much time with his mentally impaired younger daughter that neighbors' protests bring in a social worker who manages to get the young woman placed with a distant pastor's family before tragedy can strike. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide