German films with international success

Among the classics in international film history are several German movies. Quite a few of them deal with the country's difficult modern history. Take 'The Baader Meinhof Complex,' for example. This film tells the story of the RAF (Red Army Faction), the extreme-leftist terrorist group responsible for murders, hostage-taking, bank robberies and bombings between 1967 and 1977.

How many top films in the German language have you seen? Here's a list of the most successful ones.

This historical film is about the events in the Führerbunker during the last days of the Second World War. Bruno Ganz convincingly plays the role of Adolf Hitler. In addition to an Oscar nomination, 'Der Untergang' received several international awards.

Many famous German films deal with the Cold War and the division of Germany into the socialist East and democratic West. This Oscar-winning political thriller takes viewers to East Germany, where the Stasi (secret service) spied on people in their private environment when it suspected them of deviant political ideas or betrayal.

Alex Kerner's mother, a committed socialist, was in a coma for eight months and "slept" while the Berlin Wall fell. Her doctor warns Alex not to scare her too much, so he decides to pretend to his mother that East Germany hasn't seized to exist and Berlin is still socialist. This funny and touching feature film by Wolfgang Becker stars a young Daniel Brühl, who'd later appear in international productions like 'Rush' and the series 'The Alienist.'

Based on the famous novel of the same name by Günter Grass, 'The Tin Drum' is a masterpiece that became the first German film ever to win an Oscar for Best non-English Film. It also won a Golden Globe.

'The Boat' describes what happened in the winter of 1941 in a German U-boat during the Battle of the Atlantic. It is a classic in German film history that was nominated for several international awards.

In this movie, Rainer Werner Fassbinder describes the distant marriage between Maria and the soldier Hermann, who has to leave for the war immediately after the wedding and is subsequently captured by enemy troops. Maria remains alone for years and finally finds herself in the arms of a local businessman.

In this experimental thriller, Lola (Franka Potente) is given twenty minutes to rescue her friend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). The problem: she has to collect 100,000 Deutschmarks (58,000 dollars) within that time. 'Run Lola Run' won the Audience Award at the Sundance Festival and was nominated for many other international awards. Franka Potente would later return in international blockbusters like 'The Bourne Identity' and 'Blow.'

The film is based on a true story and takes the viewer into the difficult life of the drug-addicted teenager Christiane Felscherinow. It achieved international success partly thanks to David Bowie's participation in the film, including his songs in the soundtrack. 

The German-Turkish Sibel enters into a marriage of convenience with an alcoholic compatriot in order to escape her authoritarian parental home. It's a fascinating love story by Fatih Akin that won multiple awards.

'The Experiment' is a German psychological thriller strongly reminiscent of the true story of the Stanford prison experiment. A group of people is placed in a fictional prison and divided into two groups: half of them are guards and the other half are prisoners. The film shows what people are capable of when they have power over others.

The Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt attends the trial of war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. She writes her observations about the Holocaust and the role of bureaucrats in that genocide in a series of controversial articles for the American magazine New Yorker. The film closely follows true events, and shows how her work made people think differently about the role of ordinary people in a genocide.

This Oscar-nominated film by Michael Verhoeven is also based on real events. Schoolgirl Sonja wants to do research in her hometown for an essay on 'My City in the Third Reich.' It turns out to be very difficult, however, because no one wants to tell her about the painful things that happened during the Nazi period.

Many German films have portrayed the country's complex National Socialist past. This Oscar-winning film by Caroline Link describes the life of a German-Jewish family that fled to Kenya during the Nazi era. The film is based on Stefanie Zweig's autobiographical novel.

This is a film adaptation of the autobiographical novel by the Jewish Sally Perel. It describes his life as a member of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s and 1940s. The film won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

This beautiful film is about a perfectionist chef who is forced to take care of her niece after the death of her sister. The film was the basis for an American version, 'No Reservations' (2007), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.

This thriller by Tom Tykwer is based on the famous novel of the same name by Patrick Süskind. It shows how Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the main character, goes on a search for the perfect scent of love and refuses to let anything stop him.

'Aimée & Jaguar' tells the true love story of a Jewish and non-Jewish woman during the Nazi era. The film is based on Erica Fischer's book about Nazism and the Holocaust. It was nominated for a Golden Globe.

This film describes the oppression of the East German population in the 1980s' socialist state. After trying to get an emigration visa for West Germany, the physician Barbara is punished by the Stasi and transferred to a remote corner of East Germany. They continue to harass and monitor the woman while she tries to build a new life in the provincial town.

An Austrian-German production, this Oscar-awarded film describes the Nazi program 'Operation Bernhard' in which Jewish prisoners were forced to counterfeit money.

In this fantasy drama by Wim Wenders, the angels Damiel and Cassiel look down from heaven at the lives of people in Berlin. One of the angels decides to renounce his immortality to have a life on Earth. Among the accolades for this film was a BAFTA nomination and an Independent Spirit Award.

An impressive, Oscar-nominated historical film recounting the last days of the Scholl siblings, a group of young people who got caught distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets during World War II. They were tortured and died in prison.

'The White Ribbon' is an sobering black-and-white film set in the First World War. After a series of mysterious pranks in a strict Protestant village, its inhabitants look for someone to blame. Michael Haneke made the film to criticize the consequences of religious and political fanaticism. It won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, and a nomination for an Oscar.

This comedic drama tells the story of an ambitious career woman who receives unannounced visits from her father - a man whose main concern are jokes and pranks - during important work meetings. 'Toni Erdmann' won several European Film Awards and was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.