Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey Movies
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)
- 2005
Germany is throwing its biggest party of the year, but some of the folks in attendance don't feel much like celebrating in this comedy-drama from writer and director Johannes Brunner. It's the final day of Munich's annual Oktoberfest, and while most of the folks on hand are having a beer-fueled blast, that isn't quite the case for everyone. College professor Richard (Peter Lohmeyer) is trying to show his kids Jenny (Samira Bedewitz) and Marc (Rick Nadler) a good time, but they're still upset over the fact he's left their mother and is sleeping with one of his students. Birgit (Barbara Rudnik), a waitress, has grown tired of her husband Max (August Schmolzer), a chronically unfaithful musician, through she can't decide if she should leave him. A restless teenage girl (Anna Bruggemann) falls for a boy in a wheelchair (Christoph Luser) until she discovers he has no trouble walking. The girl's mother, Maria (Hildegard Kuhlenberg), has been supporting the family by operating a haunted house attraction near the Oktoberfest, but she's not sure what to do when she learns she's lost her lease. And a couple from Japan (Gen Seto and Nahoko Fort-Nishigami) wonders if Munich was such a good idea for their honeymoon after a long day of drinking. Oktoberfest was shot on location in Munich during the 2005 celebration of the titular festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Rudnik, Peter Lohmeyer, (more)
- 2001
Alienation, heartbreak, and hogs prove to be a fatal combination in this offbeat black comedy from writer and director Jobst Oetzmann. Elias (Janek Rieke) is an aspiring author living in Hamburg who, while interviewing his Aunt Gisela (Rosemarie Fendel) for a writing project, makes the startling discovery that his cousin, Gunther (Thomas Schmauser), has taken his own life. Though Elias wasn't close to Gunther, the news still comes as a shock, and he decides to travel to Gunther's hometown of East Westphalia to find out exactly what happened. Despite the lack of assistance from Gunther's unfriendly parents and the troublesome antics of a pack of bullies, Elias begins to piece together Gunther's sad story. The product of an eccentric upbringing from a family of butchers, Gunther grew up bright but painfully reserved, and after his romance with an American girl (Dynelle Rhodea) was scotched by interference from his parents, he began to develop a strange philosophy centered around the noble nature of pigs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janek Rieke, Thomas Schmauser, (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)
