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Giulia Satmary
Some of the best movies have emerged from German cinema and now Netflix allows us, curious spectators, to have them at easy reach. From the early socio-political days of Metropolis and Fritz Lang to the contemporary tales of Werner Herzog and films like Run Lola Run, Goodbye Lenin and Downfall, German cinema has never shied away from hard-hitting themes.
Their use of humor, their love of crime and their stylistic storytelling have made German films a fan favorite. And what a fantastic way to improve your German language learning. So what are the best German movies currently available on Netflix?
This Oscar-winning film is a must-see. Set in 1984, in Soviet Germany, in East Berlin, this character-filled and complex tale follows the story of Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, a master of psychological torture and an ardent supporter of the Communist regime. When Gerd is ordered to spy on writer Georg Dreyman and his lover, Gerd finds himself becoming increasingly obsessed with their lives.
Watching this film with German subtitles will surely raise your German to the next level. However, due to its complex themes and story, it may be hard to follow at times. This might be better served at a later stage if your German is not yet at the intermediate or advanced stage.
The story tells the tale of Isi, a young woman from an extremely wealthy family, keen to pursue her culinary ambitions despite the refusal of her parents. When she meets Ossi, our working-class hero with a dream of his own, she hatches a plan to help them both.
When duo Vic and Tom randomly kidnap Stella off the street with no witnesses, their carefully hatched plan is put into action. To get her wealthy father to pay her ransom. However, despite believing they have all bases covered and that they are in control, their trust in each other will soon be tested.
The story itself is a gritty, urban tale of a young Spanish woman, Victoria, who finds herself embroiled in the trials and tribulations of four German men on a night out in Berlin. Intense and pulsating, this film is fast-paced and suspenseful and a perfect way to dip your toe into learning German through films.
Naturally, this is far from being an exhaustive list when it comes to the best German movies (and their availability on Netflix). Expand your inventory, add your own favorites and start preparing that popcorn for an evening packed with emotions.
Ciara Gillan is an Irish writer living in Berlin. An avid storyteller with a Masters in Creative Writing and love for crime fiction podcasts, she currently works as a copywriter for Lingoda. In her spare time, she writes audio fiction scripts, is brushing up on her high school German and is currently learning Spanish. You can find her on LinkedIn and on her side hustle website, Reckless Fascination.
Learning a new language takes time and dedication, but it can also be fun, entertaining, and enlightening. Learners can watch foreign films to boost their language acquisition and enjoy the learning process.
Watching movies provides natural exposure to the German language and allows you to immerse yourself in the culture and accents. This is a great way to pick up the grammar, pronunciation, and useful phrases used by native German speakers.
Moreover, engaging with content made in Germany can teach you a bit about German life, customs, and values. Movies featuring native speakers with various German accents will also allow you to tune into different dialects and local colloquialisms.
You will also find German movies on Lingopie. This streaming platform provides access to a great number of German series and movies not found on Netflix. The site also offers interactive subtitles which can be set to your native language and German simultaneously.
You can also do quizzes, make digital flashcards of new vocabulary and play the content at a slower pace on Lingopie, which is a feature that is excellent for beginner and intermediate learners. Now, here are 12 of the best German movies on Netflix for learners.
In English, the title of our first recommendation means 3 Turks and a Baby. Starring German rapper Eko Fresh, this is comedy movie is a more modern take on the 1987 English-language classic Three Men and a Baby.
Set in Frankfurt, this hilarious German film explores how three very different brothers deal with romance, religion, and daily life. They all live together in a shared flat and co-run their failing inherited family business.
Jenny von Loeben is imprisoned for murder and while incarcerated she meets Frau Traude Krueger, the prison piano teacher. Frau Traude tells Jenny she cannot play the piano as her hands are too rough. Enraged, Jenny attacks a prison guard, who is also a piano student.
However, when Frau Traude hears Jenny play, she is impressed and offers her lessons. Jenny enters a piano competition, but when her rival inmates hear of her success, they tie her to a bed and set fire to her hands in jealousy.
After a partner swap experiment with a "no sex" rule, four friends reunite at a beach house to face the unexpected fallout of this risky game. The two couples had intended to use this experiment to learn what they each wanted from their relationships, but as it turns out, what they wanted might not have been their partners.
Stefan, a successful lawyer who has been living in Dubai, takes a trip home to Wrzburg, Germany, to get some documents in order for his wedding. He has been clean from drugs for years, he has found a wonderful woman to marry and his life is in order.
That is until he reunites with his old friend Kai, who quickly gets him into trouble with drug dealers. Watch this film to see how quickly a successful lawyer can slip back into his old ways and how the power of friendship trumps everything else.
This film explores the seedy world of three corrupt real estate agents who accumulate absurd wealth in no time but fall into a terrible spiral of fraud, greed, and drugs. Sound familiar? The film features Wolf of Wallstreet-style behavior and corrupted glamor.
Isi and Ossi's fake relationship might be the leverage she needs to convince her disapproving parents to send her to culinary school. Does this film tell a story about true love or manipulation? Time will tell.
When an adventurous teenage girl with a congenital heart defect bonds with an unruly horse, she hopes to compete as an amateur jockey in a life-threatening race. Jana is recruited by racehorse trainer Paul Brenner and throws herself into jockey training.
Jana seizes every opportunity to challenge fate and jumps into every wild and dangerous adventure. Her parents live in constant fear of losing their daughter. Drama ensues right from the onset of this movie.
Janna is sexually assaulted by the brother-in-law of her new boss. She does not report the incident but is plagued by the experience. She tries to move on with her life as if nothing happened, but the night weighs heavily on her mind and body
Written and directed by Eva Trobisch, this emotional drama film recounts the story of a woman who is tormented by the external world, as well as the thoughts in her own head. The starring performance by Aenne Schwarz brings this art house drama to life.
Olaf Schubert is a busy man who dreams of success and does not have time for a girlfriend. However, he is the last in his family line and his father demands that he have children, and soon. So, Olaf dutifully seeks a woman with whom he can start a family.
Shot mainly in the eastern German city of Dresden, this movie offers an insight into family dynamics in Germany, as well as German cuisine, culture, and daily life. There are many moments of comedy in this movie
This German film is a documentary about the search for the atomic bomb Adolf Hitler had ordered to be built during the Second World War. Filmmaker Andreas Sulzer recounts Hitler's efforts in World War II to create an A-bomb of his own.
Primarily based on excavations of the Bergkristall bunker, known for manufacturing Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter aircraft, The Search for Hitler's Bomb speculates about the development of a German nuclear weapon.
This is an emotional and inspiring drama about a teenage ballerina who discovers hip-hop by chance and begins to question her commitment to ballet. Katya is conflicted as she wants to make her father proud but the joy and freedom of hip-hop have changed her outlook on her future with ballet.
Familiye follows an ex-con who, once he is released from prison, must care for his two younger brothers in Berlin. The plot thickens, as one brother is a gambling addict, while the other has Down syndrome.
This drama movie explores the struggle of socially outcast men in a society that is not built to support them and allow them to escape their current situation. Themes of tradition, family and German society come to a head and the film does not shy away from the pain and desperation of this situation.
One of the best German movies on Netflix for action and comedy combined is Christmas Crossfire. This gripping film follows a man who foils an attempted murder and then flees the would-be killers. A woman he meets along the way also tries to hunt him down and has to deal with some awful obstacles, such as a police officer who assaults her.
Or, you can watch Buba. This is the story of a small-town con artist who joins the local mafia in what becomes a great dark comedy. German humor is known for being a little darker, so it makes sense that these comedies live up to that expectation.
Another expectation learners may have about German movies is that many of them will be war films. While this is not the case a lot of the time, there are some excellent examples of this genre to check out.
Sarajevo tells a fictionalized account of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event that became the catalyst for WWI. Moreover, you can look up the critically acclaimed Downfall, in which Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, talks of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII. Learn some German history while you develop your language skills.
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