Gift SubscriptionsGitta Schweighöfer
- 2007
Helmer Michael Schorr's comedic follow-up to his arthouse hit Schultze Gets the Blues unfurls in a depressing, steel-skied Eastern Europe where strip mines and dilapidated buildings litter the Earth. In a little-known piece of land called the "Silesia" region, sandwiched snugly in between Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic, a pie-in-the-sky dreamer named Frank Schröder (Peter Schneider) hatches an outrageous plan to turn the area into a Caribbean-themed tropical resort. He has financial backing, from a wealthy U.S. industrialist of Russian extraction named John Gregory (Jürgen Prochnow of Das Boot) -- but not the practical day-to-day support, for Gregory only wants to hunt wolves in the region and refuses to commit any time or solid attention to the project. Meanwhile, Schröder has bigger problems afoot when he realizes that he has no idea how to actually execute his plan, and then butts heads with a number of demanding dignitaries from the surrounding nations, including his own dad. A plethora of local eccentrics -- everyone from a nationalist called Uncle Wigbert to a taciturn and defiantly unamused groundskeeper -- only serve to complicate the situation. Per Cat Ballou and other films, Schorr has the picture's composer, Bernd Begemann, turn up from time to time with a guitar to sing humorous ballads commenting on the events of the story. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Schneider, Karl-Fred Mueller, (more)
A man who has devoted his life to ferreting out "dangerous" characters is thrown into a quandary when he investigates a man who poses no threat in this drama, the first feature from German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It's 1984, and Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an agent of the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. Weisler carefully and dispassionately investigates people who might be deemed some sort of threat to the state. Shortly after Weisler's former classmate, Lt. Col. Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), invites him to a theatrical piece by celebrated East German playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), Minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) informs Weisler that he suspects Dreyman of political dissidence, and wonders if this renowned patriot is all that he seems to be. As it turns out, Hempf has something of an ulterior motive for trying to pin something on Dreyman: a deep-seated infatuation with Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), Dreyman's girlfriend. Nevertheless, Grubitz, who is anxious to further his career, appoints Weisler to spy on the gentleman with his help. Weisler plants listening devices in Dreyman's apartment and begins shadowing the writer. As Weisler monitors Dreyman's daily life, however (from a secret surveillance station in the gentleman's attic), he discovers the writer is one of the few East Germans who genuinely believes in his leaders. This changes over time, however, as Dreyman discovers that Christa-Maria is being blackmailed into a sexual relationship with Hempf, and one of Dreyman's friends, stage director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert), is driven to suicide after himself being blackballed by the government. Dreyman's loyalty thus shifts away from the East German government, and he anonymously posts an anti-establishment piece in a major newspaper which rouses the fury of government officials. Meanwhile, Weisler becomes deeply emotionally drawn into the lives of Dreyman and Sieland, and becomes something of an anti-establishment figure himself, embracing freedom of thought and expression. A major box-office success in Germany, Das Leben der Anderen (aka The Lives of Others) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, (more)
- 2008
The true story of one of World War One's deadliest air aces comes to the screen in this historical drama. Manfred von Richthofen (Matthias Schweighoefer) became fascinated with flying when he was a boy, and as a young man he joins the German army and becomes part of their budding air force. Flying in a squadron with his best friend Werner Voss (Til Schweiger), von Richthofen is a pilot with a great talent for aerial battle, but he also has a sense of honor and fair play, and he and his cohorts often pay tribute to fallen opponent by dropping wreaths over the wreckage of their planes. When von Richthofen and Voss discover a Canadian pilot, Capt. Roy Brown (Joseph Fiennes), who has been stranded in German territory, they rescue the flier rather than leave an enemy soldier to die, and while bringing him to safety Manfred meets Kaete Otersdorf (Lena Headey), a military nurse who has devoted her life to helping those wounded by war. Manfred becomes deeply infatuated with Kaete, but while she is also taken with him, she cannot abide his open embrace of the blood sport of war, and even as he becomes one of Germany's most decorated pilots, downing nearly eight enemy planes, he comes to understand the true horror of war and the consequences of his actions. von Richthofen gains an even greater perspective on war when he encounters Capt. Brown one last time. Der Rote Baron (aka The Red Baron) was shot in both German and English language versions, with the same cast appearing in both. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthias Schweighofer, Lena Headey, (more)
