August Diehl Movies
Actor August Diehl debuted in productions in his native Germany beginning in the late '90s, and thereafter did the preponderance of his screen work in continentally produced German-language productions. Early projects -- which found Diehl ascending rapidly from bit parts to supporting roles -- included Stefan Ruzowitzky's medical thriller Anatomy (2000) and its 2003 sequel, and Peter Sehr's romantic drama Love the Hard Way (2001). Diehl tackled one of his premier leads in Robert Schwentke's gruesome post-noir thriller Tattoo (2002), as a rookie detective assigned to homicide, where he must solve a bizarre series of ritual murders. Diehl netted international crossover attention and retained lead billing with his work in such critical darlings as Volker Schlöndorff's 2004 psychological dramaThe Ninth Day (as a Gestapo officer) and Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters (2007), as a World War II-era collotype specialist continually interfering with a Nazi counterfeiting scheme. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide- 2008
One man's good intentions could prove fatal in this drama from writer and director Tom Schreiber. Marc (August Diehl) is a novice doctor in his mid-twenties from Frankfurt who accepts an internship at a hospital in Cali, Colombia. Marc isn't certain of what to expect going in, but it soon becomes clear that the poverty, violence and crime in Cali is more than he bargained for, as he treats gunshot victims in the emergency room and is confronted by a pack of teenage drug pushers during his first day on the job. Marc tries to distract himself from the misery around him with cocaine and promiscuous sex, but in time he bonds with Wanda (Marleyda Soto), a woman who runs a market in one of Cali's poorest neighborhoods and keeps a maternal eye on the children who've been lured into the drug trade. Marc and Wanda become romantically involved and he wants to find a way to help the desperate people he sees every day, but when Marc sees crime boss El Juez (Victor Villegas) murder one of his rivals, he's no longer seen as a friend of the poor but as a witness who could put a powerful man behind bars if he isn't silenced. Tom Schreiber and Oliver Keidel based their screenplay for Dr. Aleman on their correspondence with a friend who worked as a physician in Colombia. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- August Diehl, Marleyda Soto, (more)
- 2006
A privileged young prankster with a cruel streak sends an alcoholic poet on a redemptive quest to find his way back home in director Michael Glawogger's semi-existential road drama. Sebastian (August Diehl) is a well-to-do slacker who has crafted his skill for slumming into something of an art form. Along with his flatmate Alex (Michael Ostrowski), Sebastian frequently arranges meetings with various women in dive bars throughout Vienna, only to photograph them surreptitiously under the table and use the resulting pictures as an endless source of amusement. As his already mean tricks begin to turn outright malicious, Sebastian finds the once-willing Alex growing increasingly uncomfortable with their "harmless" pastime. Kallman (Paulus Manker) is a troubled alcoholic who sells his poems on the street in order to stay inebriated. When Sebastian and Alex discover an unconscious Kallman sleeping off his latest round of drinks on a train station bench, they quickly spirit the clueless drunk into their car and across the Czech border where he is casually dumped without identification in a remote village. Subsequently enamored by restless local teacher Pia (Pia Hierzegger), Sebastian inadvertently revolts the kindly educator by jovially revealing the details of his latest practical joke. As a determined Pia sets out to locate the ailing alcoholic and safely bring him back home, Kallman attempts to recount just how he ended up so far away from Vienna as he navigates a strange and unfamiliar landscape. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paulus Manker, August Diehl, (more)
- 2006
In 2000, Mohammed Fazazi was the Imam (or faith leader) at the Al Quds mosque in Hamburg, Germany, and near the end of the holy observance of Ramadan, Fazazi led several teaching sessions for his congregation in which attendees would be allowed to ask questions about the Qur'an and Islamic principles that they would normally be required to present in writing. Two of the sessions were videotaped, and in them Fazazi speaks (among other things) about his attitudes about Europe and America, and Islamic positions towards nations that embrace other faiths and support policies that run counter to Muslim law. Fazazi's statements proved to be wildly controversial after the fact when it became known that a number of the attendees at his 2000 presentations later participated in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., including three of the four suicide pilots. Filmmaker Romuald Karmakar transcribed Fazazi's statements from the surviving videotapes, and in the film Hamburger Lektionen (or Hamburg Lectures), actor Manfred Zapatka delivers Fazazi's speeches in full, at once altering their original context while allowing the words to speak for themselves. Director Karmakar and actor Zapatka collaborated on a similar project in 2000, Das Himmler Projekt, in which they recreated an infamous 1943 speech by Heinrich Himmler, leader of the Nazi SS. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Deadly secrets begin to seethe when the irresistable allure of a mysterious woman in red draws a weak-willed architect into a fateful one-night stand in director Margarethe von Trotta's entry into the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, Katja Riemann, (more)
A disillusioned young girl looking to carve her own path in life and live on her own terms hits the road with a volatile collection of radical revolutionaries in director Alison Murray's uncompromising coming-of-age road film. Sherry (Ellen Page) is a teenage contradiction of sorts; she wants to be accepted but she doesn't want to sacrifice her fierce individualism. When Sherry meets up with SPARKS (Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge) and decides to join the curious group of counter-culture activists in their trek across Europe, it appears as if the idealistic young traveler has finally found a family who will accept her for who she really is. When the SPARKS group arrives in an abandoned Portuguese vineyard to set up their own private Shangri-la, though, their ultimate goal grows increasingly ominous as the heated rhetoric of group leader Harry begins to take a dangerous slant. When a pair of deaths prompt the more weak-minded members of the group to pledge unwavering support, skeptical Sherry and questioning fellow SPARKS member Mad Ax begin to see the group for what it really is -- a cleverly disguised recruitment tool designed specifically to promote dangerous leader Harry's warped ideology. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Page, Eric Thal, (more)
- 2003
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German screenwriter Achim von Borries makes his directorial feature debut with the stylish period drama Was Nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (Love in Thoughts), based on original material by Annette Hess and Alexander Pfeuffer and the novel The Suicide Club by Arno Meyer Zu Kueingdorf. Bohemian Guenther (August Diehl) and the sensual Hilde (Anna Maria Mühe) are a wealthy brother and sister who host a wild weekend of sex, poetry, and alienation in a countryside summer home. Invited are working-class Paul (Daniel Brühl), hunky Hans (Thure Lindhardt), and shy Elli (Jana Pallaske). They all take absinthe and indulge in their most romantic psychosexual urges, only to return to Berlin on Sunday completely depressed and/or suicidal. Love in Thoughts premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Brühl, August Diehl, (more)
- 2003
German director Hans-Christian Schmid teams up again with writing partner Michael Gutmann for the ensemble film Lichter (Distant Lights). The film takes place during a few days around the Oder River, which acts as a border between Poland and Germany. Several different interrelated stories involve young adults who smuggle cigarettes, a businessman who sells black-market mattresses, and a cab driver trying to get his daughter a communion dress. While trying to cross the river at night, Ukranian Kolya (Ivan Shvedov) is arrested while two other Ukranians (Sergei Frolov and Anna Yanovskaya) are helped by the cab driver. Lichter premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivan Shvedov, Sergei Frolov, (more)
- 2003
Anouk Aimée portrays a holocaust survivor in Marcelline Loridan-Ivens' debut film, The Birch-Tree Meadow. Myriam (Aimée) attends a reunion of survivors where she wins a ticket to Krakow, Poland. After some debate, she decides to journey back to the place of the worst horror she has ever known. After learning about the different kinds of Jewish eateries in Krakow, Myriam gathers the courage to see Auschwitz, were she confronts her own guilt over the death of a friend and meets a sympathetic man who has his own connection to their shared history. This film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, August Diehl, (more)
- 2002
A dark and gruesome thriller reminiscent of David Fincher's Seven, this freshman effort from German director Robert Schwentke finds an unmotivated young detective roped into helping a seasoned veteran solve a case in which people are literally skinned for their tattoos and brutally murdered. Schrader (August Diehl) is a lazy, hard-partying cop who barely passed his academy training, only to settle in for an undemanding desk job upon graduation. His bid for the easy life is soon spoiled when Chief Inspector Minks (Christian Redl) blackmails him into working for homicide after catching him in possession of drugs at an illegal nightclub. Soon discovering a group of underground art enthusiasts who covet a series of 12 tattoos detailed by a mysterious and since-deceased Japanese artist, the duo subsequently discovers a heretofore-unknown 13th tattoo by the artist adorning the body of beautiful Maya (Nadeshda Brennicke). As Schrader enters into a dangerous and heated affair with Maya, the case tumbles headlong into a tense climax when the group discovers that their collection is incomplete. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- August Diehl, Christian Redl, (more)
A determined medical student uncovers shady goings on during a prestigious summer anatomy course in this German thriller. When Paula Henning (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) learns that she's been accepted to a highly competitive internship at a Heidelberg research institution, she's ecstatic. The daughter of a simple family doctor, she prefers to model herself after her terminally ill grandfather, who was once dean of the same Heidelberg university. Stern lecturer Prof. Grombek (Traugott Buhre) promises that half the students won't be around when the course ends; his prediction turns out to be true, but it's not because of the brutal exams. It seems that a group of renegade doctors is performing dissections on unwilling, still-living victims, which helps explain the artful laboratory in which plasticized human remains are lovingly displayed. Paula stumbles onto this plot when a recent acquaintance turns up on her dissection table, his blood the consistency of rubber. Studious to the extreme, Paula investigates his death with scientific determination -- despite the flirtations of handsome fellow student Caspar (Sebastian Blomberg) and the feel-good urgings of Gretchen (Anna Loos), her sexually promiscuous but utterly brilliant roommate. Just as Paula is preparing to expose the existence of the Anti-Hippocratic Society, a Nazi-affiliated group of medical malcontents, Gretchen falls prey to their extreme methods. Soon Paula, too, is in danger of becoming just another addition to the display case. Extremely popular in its native country, Anatomie was dubbed into English for American release under the title Anatomy. A sequel was in production as of 2002. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franka Potente, Benno Fürmann, (more)
- 2000
Adapted from the novel of celebrated German writer Ingrid Noll, Kalt ist der Abendhauch bounces back and forth over a span of 50 years to tell the darkly comic tale of a destructive love affair between two people. When the film opens, octogenarian Charlotte (Gisela Trowe) has just received a letter from Hugo (Heinz Bennent), an old friend who is coming for a visit. The news of Hugo's impending arrival takes Charlotte back to the year 1936, when she was 16. One of four children born to middle-class parents, young Charlotte (Fritzi Haberlandt) carries a torch for handsome stud Hugo (August Diehl), and is understandably put out when he marries her older sister Ida (Georgia Stahl). An even deeper pall is cast over the couple's union when Charlotte's brother shows up at the wedding dinner wearing a dress, then proceeds to hang himself in the attic. A few years later, Charlotte enters into an unsatisfying marriage with Bernhard (Andre Hennicke), a dull schoolteacher with whom she has two children. Bernhard disappears during the course of World War II and is presumed dead, making it easy for Charlotte to consummate her long-simmering lust with Hugo when he drops by one day after the war. However, on a proverbial dark and stormy night, Bernhard reappears at Charlotte's doorstep, wet, unkempt, and hungry for sex. Hugo's arrival fifty years later exposes -- literally -- five decades of family secrets and dysfunction, thanks in part to the gruesome discovery of a body buried in the cellar. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heinz Bennent, Gisela Trowe, (more)
- 1998
Hans Christian Schmid directed this fact-based German thriller about computer hackers who find inspiration in The Illuminatus! Trilogy, the popular Robert Shea/Robert Anton Wilson cult novel series probing Atlantis, conspiracies, Discordianism, dolphins, drugs, and the mystical meaning of the number 23. Interest in the Shea-Wilson book can be found on numerous websites throughout the Internet. Two members of the Shea-Wilson cult are young Karl Koch (August Diehl) and his buddy David (Fabian Busch). They find countless references to the book everywhere they look. Sitting at computer keyboards, they relate the theories to current events, and through their pal Pepe (Dieter Landuris) they sell their research to Russians in East Berlin. However, the Russians want military data. To elude authorities, Karl and David work from hotel rooms, and one day they accidentally access a United States government database. The pressures take a toll on Karl, who suffers a mental collapse. Shown at 1998 film fests (Locarno, Munich, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- August Diehl, Fabian Busch, (more)
A group of hardened Nazi killers stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a Jewish cinema owner plots to take down top-ranking SS officers during the official premiere of a high-profile German propaganda film. As far as Lt. Aldo Raine (aka Aldo the Apache," Brad Pitt) -- is concerned, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Raine's mission is to strike fear into the heart of Adolf Hitler by brutally murdering as many goose-steppers as possible, or die trying. In order to accomplish that goal, Lt. Raine recruits a ruthless team of cold-blooded killers known as "The Basterds" which includes baseball-bat-wielding Bostonian Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (aka "The Bear Jew," Eli Roth) and steely psychopath Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), among others. When the Basterds' secret rendezvous with turncoat German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) goes awry, they learn that the Nazis will be staging the French premiere of "The Nation's Pride," a rousing propaganda film based on the exploits of German hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), at a modest theater owned by Jewish cinephile Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), posing as a Gentile after the brutal murder of her family by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the Basterds hatch an explosive plan to take out as many Nazis as possible at the premiere, they remain completely oblivious to the fact that Shoshanna, too, longs to bring the Third Reich to its knees, and that she's willing to sacrifice her beloved theater in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, (more)
Writer/director Stefan Ruzowitzky explores the moral corrosion of Nazi complicity with this tightly wound adaptation of Adolf Burger's fact-based book The Devil's Workshop. Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) may be a talented artist at heart, but his desire for wealth has driven him to use his creativity for more nefarious means. Arrested by the police inspector Herzog (Devid Striesow) at the onset of World War II, Sorowitsch is sent to the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp. It's not long before Salomon's thinly veiled opportunism earns him a relatively comfortable position as the camp's resident sketch artist, and five years later he is mysteriously swept away to Sachsenhausen. Upon arriving at the camp, Sorowitsch discovers that Herzog, now a commandant, is attempting to destabilize the economies of the Allies while simultaneously funding the Nazi war machine by assembling a special team of counterfeit artists to create millions in fraudulent pounds and dollars. As the operation gets under way, Sorowitsch finds the efforts of the team continually undermined by unyieldingly idealistic collotype specialist Adolf Burger (August Diehl). In the months that follow, the team wrestles with their consciences as Axis forces are gradually overwhelmed by Allied might. The Counterfeiters won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Markovics, August Diehl, (more)
An ambitious, working-class medical graduate with dreams of becoming a research physician arrives in Berlin eager to begin his internship at a reputable clinic in director Stefan Ruzowitzky's sequel to his 2000 sleeper Anatomie. Motivated by his desire to provide patients with human warmth often lacking in medical treatment, and driven by his desire to discover a cure for the rare muscle disease that has crippled his brother Willi, Jo (Barnaby Metschurat) eagerly begins his internship as scheduled. When Jo is approached to perform an unauthorized operation on the daughter of a colleague, he initially refuses, only relenting after personally witnessing the graveness of her situation. His successful operation and detailed dissertation drawing the attention of Professor Mueller-LaRousse (Herbert Knaup), the charismatic Mueller-LaRousse subsequently invites Jo to join in weekly gatherings in his "research salon." As Jo becomes a member of Mueller-LaRousse's elite group of talented physicians, the stress of his internship is soon lifted, replaced by a compromising situation that may not only cost Jo his career, but his life as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barnaby Metschurat, Herbert Knaup, (more)
This contemporary film noir is an international endeavor with key creative forces hailing from China, Germany, and the United States. It is based on the Chinese novel Yoban shi huoyan she hai shu (Fire and Ice) by subversive writer Wang Shuo, who has been called a "corruptor of youth" by critics in his native land. German screenwriter/director Peter Sehr fell in love with the novel and chose to adapt it as a film set in New York City. For Sehr, the location best represents a contrast of "people and light" that compliments the film's subject matter, a dark love story between a brilliant biology student and a master swindler. Claire is a good girl living a mundane lifestyle until she meets literature-quoting con man, Jack. Although Jack normally despises relationships, he's attracted to Claire's innocence and allows a romance to blossom. But when a detective begins closing in on a his latest caper, he's forced to give Claire the cold shoulder. Heartbroken, Claire starts down a spiraling road of self-destruction that's often painful to watch. Performance highlights are Adrien Brody as Jack, and Pam Grier in a tough-lady role reminiscent of Jackie Brown. ~ Connor McMadden, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrien Brody, Charlotte Ayanna, (more)
The horrors and moral compromises of war set the stage for this harrowing drama from director Max Färberböck, based on a true story. An anonymous female reporter (Nina Hoss) is living in Berlin in the spring of 1945; most of the city has been reduced to rubble by bombing, the German army has been decimated, and most of those left behind are expecting the arrival of Russian troops and fearful of what awaits them. The reporter is one of a number of women who are hiding wherever they can in the city, expecting that they will be raped and brutalized by the Russians. It doesn't take long for their worst fears to be realized as the emotionally ravaged Russian soldiers take out their anger and frustration on their new captives. But the reporter, who can speak Russian, is determined not to allow herself to be violated by the soldiers, and she decides to curry favor with a Soviet officer who will then protect her from his underlings. The reporter's plan works as she becomes the lover of Major Andrej (Yevgeni Sidikhin), an officer with decidedly mixed feelings about his work. But as the reporter trades consensual sex for the safety Andrej can give her, both are aware who is the victor and who is a captive, and elsewhere in Berlin both German survivors and the soldiers occupying Berlin show the scars of war as they bring out the worst in one another. Anonyma -- Eine Frau in Berlin (aka A Woman in Berlin) received its world premiere at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nina Hoss, Yevgeny Sidikhin, (more)
Acclaimed filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff directed this story of a war of words between a Nazi soldier and a man of the cloth. In 1942, Henri Kremer (Ulrich Matthes) is a Catholic priest who, like three thousand other Catholic clergymen, has been sent to the Dachau prison camp by Nazi authorities for espousing his faith and speaking out against the Axis leadership. Shortly after Kremer receives word that his mother has passed away, he's pulled from the ranks at the camp and sent to Luxembourg, where he used to live and lead a congregation. While Kremer at first believes his well-connected family has arranged for his release, he soon finds this is not the case -- Untersturmfuehrer Gebhardt (August Diehl), a ranking member of the Gestapo, informs Kremer that he's been given a nine-day respite from the camp for a special assignment. Kremer is well acquainted with Bishop Philipp (Hilmar Thate), leader of Luxembourg's Catholic community, and the Nazis want the bishop to sign a letter pledging full cooperation with German authorities, something he has been unwilling even to discuss. Gebhardt wants Kremer to persuade the bishop to sign the document; if Kremer fails to meet this goal, he's told 18 priests from Luxembourg currently in Dachau will all be killed. What Gebhardt prefers not to mention is that if he can't find a way to secure the bishop's cooperation, he'll be transferred from his comfortable post to a death camp in Eastern Europe. Der Neunte Tag was based on the true story of Luxembourg priest Father Jean Bernard, who wrote of his experiences in the book Pfarrerblock Z4587. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, (more)
