Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) You might have seen the American version of this movie, City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, but don't let this dissuade you.  Wings of Desire is an eccentric, somber, movie about two angels, Damiel and Cassiel as they roam the city of Berlin, unseen and unheard by the people, observing and listening to the diverse thoughts of Berliners. All in black and white, all under the auspices of the strict rules that Angels follow, unlike the chaotic and beautiful technicolor world of mortal humanity.  This is a movie of longing, love, and desire. A movie with characters that are both Angels, humans, and also a city, Berlin, divided into an East and a West, broken.  The movie is long, philosophical, and tends to take itself very seriously sometimes.  This is not a Nic Cage and Meg Ryan romantic comedy, to be sure.  I own this movie on DVD.

Run Lola Run (Lola rennt) Run Lola Run is a 1998 German thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer, and starring Franka Potente as Lola, Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni, and Berlin as a compelling background. This may be to coolest movie you have every seen.  There is an 80% chance that you'll rush out and grab a copy of the soundtrack and maybe even dye your hair red and get a tattoo. You might fall in love with Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu both -- and you'll be happy to know that they're both in a bunch of other great films.  In fact, you might recognize Franka Potente from both The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy as well as a guest star on House. I don't want to go into the story because there are too many spoilers to count but mark my words, this is one hell of a exciting ride.  I own this movie on DVD, too.

Good Bye, Lenin! (Good Bye Lenin!) If you have ever wondered what it was like for real people to go from living in Communist East Berlin through to the falling of the wall this is the movie for you. While this is a small, funny, movie, it has been labeled a tragicomedy as this is a film that wallows in all the humanity of growing up in the East, the personal politics, the story of people fleeing to the West, and all of the anti-government protests and the effect of captialism on the hearts and minds of East Germans after the wall fell.  I don't own this DVD but I surely would do, if you're considering Christmas and Birthday gifts -- too late, I just ordered the DVD just now from Amazon!

Go Trabi Go (Go Trabi Go) I saw this amazing, mad-cap, litle comedy at the theater at the Goethe-Institut in Washington but I will be forever in love. It is a quirky comedy about an East German teacher, Udo Struut, who packs up his Trabant "Trabi" 601 to take a holiday with his little family by reliving German literay superstar's, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's, "Italian Journey" which takes them by car all the way through western Europe in their little car for the very first time since the wall came down and East Germans were finally allowed to travel freely.  The Trabant auto, a ridiculed symbols of East Germany, is itself a character in this film, as is the way this family behaves in contrast with the sophisticated, rich, Porsche-driving western Europeans.  Hilarity ensues and I am sure I will end up buying this on DVD as well.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) This wild movie addresses the totalitarian excesses of the East German state before, during, and after the collapse of the wall, exploring the excessive paranoia and oppression perpetrated by the all-seeing, all-controlling Stasi, the GDR's secret police.  It is pretty inconceivable how much power and citizen-on-citizen pressure was put on the people of the German Democratic Republic AKA East Germany, during the cold war. It is the typical story of artists and playwrights who are are conspiring to defect and to bring with them the atrocities and sufferings of the East into the decadent West, and what the Stasi does to try to disrupt and destroy their plans of liberation and free thought. While the story is a bit cliché, you've never seen it like this. Such a tangled web of intrigue and realpolitik! Such an exploration of loyalty and betrayal! All of this to such effect that it is considered one of the best movies every made. Journalist John Podhoretz called the film "one of the greatest movies ever made, and certainly the best film of this decade" and William F. Buckley Jr. wrote that, after the film was over, "I turned to my companion and said, 'I think that this is the best movie I ever saw.'" Considering how many of my Facebook and Twitter friends recommended it, I think this film appeals to both conservatives and liberals alike -- and everyone in-between.  And, I just ordered this movie on DVD from Amazon just now.

Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) I saw this movie in the theater here in the US during its US release and loved it.  This was years before it was defiled by Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart into the Hollywood dud, No Reservations. Well, for those of you who love romantic comedies, here's the German interpretations of it: a staid, serious, obsessed, workaholic, very Germanic young woman, the head chef of a fancy restaurant in Hamburg, Germany.  She is a perfectionist who is stuck in her ways and pathological, requiring her to see a therapist to deal with her culinary pursuit of perfection.  She has control issues, considers food to be high art and does not suffer morons or philistines. I won't go any further for fear of ruining your romantic comedy experience experience. Suffice it to say that this is a movie that worships food and if you loved Julie and Julia you'll not want to miss this one. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll join culinary school!

The Princess and the Warrior (Der Krieger und die Kaiserin) OK, I watched this on Netflix because I have a crush on Franka Potente from Run Lola Run, who plays Sissi, a psychiatric hospital nurse; however, after I started watching this film, I was hooked.  Like Lola, this movie deals how the decisions you make -- every little one -- effect your fate. The movie hinges around a chance meeting between a robber, Bodo, and Sissi, the nurse, during a very strange happenstance: after robbing a grocery store, Bodo causes a truck to hit Sissi; however, Bodo finds Sissi under the truck and performs an emergency tracheotomy, saves her life, and then disappears without Sissi ever knowing who her savior was.  Well, the movie is a wild ride and it is dark and fantastical, dark, delusional, passionate, absurd, spiritual, and infused with pathos.  I almost forget about this gem and I am pretty sure I need to check this movie out again because I believe I haven't yet peeled this onion enough but I am sure you'll love it.

Via Language Journeys Rosetta Stone Blog