Florian Gallenberger Movies

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

Produced and directed by seven Munich Film School students, Honolulu takes place not in Hawaii, but inside of a rural town just outside of Munich, Germany. Several vignettes, lasting approximately 10 to 15 minutes each, are connected by one of the town's public bus routes, outside of which two men (Stefan Maass and Jochen Nickel) booze the night away while waiting for the bus to make its rounds. There is a brief encounter between a shy young man (Daniel Bruehl) and notorious party girl Chiara Schoras), as well as a strange meeting of an eccentric Slav (Aleksandar Jovanovi) and a girl (Julia Hummer) who is fresh from a break-up with her former boyfriend. Other characters work their way into the plot, including lesbian bus driver with dreams of leaving the country for Honolulu, a smooth-talking and slightly unbalanced young man who puts the moves on a shy bride-to-be, and a Middle Eastern immigrant who finds himself comforting a lonely rich girl on her birthday. Honolulu also features Anna Thalbach, Markus Knuefken, Mehdi Moinzadeh, and Alexandra Maria Lara. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide