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(Kino = German for “cinema”)

During this year in our German courses, we will screen a number of authentic films. Generally, these films are subtitled versionsand rated G, PG, or PG-13.  .

Films slated for inclusion in this year’s curriculum are as follows:

Das Wunder Von Bern (PG)

Summer, 1954. The Soviet Union is sending its prisoners of war home. Among them is the father of a quiet, football-loving 11-year-old, Matthias, who lives with his mother, sister and brother in a West-German mining town. The boy has long found a surrogate father in the local football player Helmut Rahn, who has "adopted" Matthias as his mascot. The return of the boy's father Richard casts a shadow over the once-happy family: broken by his years in captivity, Richard has trouble adapting to life in post-war Germany and alienates his family through his severity.

Jenseits der Stille (PG 13)

Acclaimed by critics and audiences everywhere, Beyond Silence is the powerful Academy Award-nominated story of a young woman's battle for independence and her deaf parents' struggle to understand her gift for music. Given a clarinet by her free-spirited aunt, Lara is immediately consumed by a new passion her parents cannot begin to fully comprehend. Determined to follow her dreams, Lara's ongoing pursuit of music creates an ever-widening rift that eventually threatens to tear apart her once close-knit family.

Emil und die Detektive (PG)

Director/screenwriter Franziska Buch has updated Erich Kästner’s 1929 tale and set it in 21st century Berlin. As in each of the previous film versions (the first, in 1931, was scripted by Billy Wilder) the story remains essentially the same as Kästner's original. Young Emil Tischbein gets robbed on the train as he travels to the big city for a visit with relatives. In Berlin he enlists the help of a band of young "detectives" to track down the evil Max Grundeis (Jürgen Vogel), the man who relieved him of his money.

Sophie Scholl:  Die Letzten Tagen (PG 13)

This film also tells the story of Die Weiße Rose (see above), but is a newer version of the same story.  This film was nominated for an Oscar as the best Foreign Film of the year 2 years ago.

Götz von Berlichingen:  Die Mann mit der eisernen Hand (PG)

This is a film based on the real life robber knight Götz von Berlichingen.  The story traces his fall from grace with the emperor, though he stays true to his ideals, and those of his fellow knights.

The Nightmare Years (PG)\

Based on the historical work "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", "The Nightmare Years" tells the story of William Shirer, American journalist who, during his days of correspondence as a foreign press in report in 1930s Germany, had to deal with the growing oppression of the Nazi regime, the increasing censorship of the press, and finally the prospect of World War. In the last days of peace, Shirer also struggles to have his German wife and child escape to the United States

In addition to these films we will see a variety of G rated documentaries dealing with German history and culture. 

There are a number of excellent German language films with subtitles which are rated R for reasons of language (although often vocabulary is translated incorrectly so that the film with be awarded an R rating and thus draw more American viewers – don’t ask me why this is so, but it is), or for brief (a few seconds) nudity.  Germans are generally open to very brief nudity in films, but not usually to violence that is often portrayed in American films.  While we cannot view these in the school setting you might be interested in previewing some of these films to decide if they are appropriate for your child.  If you are interested, please contact me.