2 Best Movies to Watch by Jacob Matschenz

Staff & contributors

It's impossible to describe this incredible movie as one thing or the other. It's an epic three-hour saga that takes you through the Nazi era, the communist era, the rise of capitalism, and the East and West German divide. But more than its historic value, it's a coming-of-age story, one that is based on the experiences of famed German artist Gerhard Richter. It's also a romance, following his experiences finding love and being hit with loss (in no particular order). If you liked the director's other work, the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, you're sure to love this too.

Genre: Drama, History, Romance, Thriller

Actor: Andreas Nickl, Anton Rubtsov, Bastian Trost, Ben Becker, Cai Cohrs, Chris Theisinger, David Schütter, Evgeniy Sidikhin, Florian Bartholomäi, Franz Pätzold, Hannes Hellmann, Hanno Koffler, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Hinnerk Schönemann, Ina Weisse, Jörg Schüttauf, Jacob Matschenz, Jeanette Hain, Johanna Gastdorf, Johannes Allmayer, Jonas Dassler, Jorg Schuttauf, Lars Eidinger, Luc Feit, Lutz Blochberger, Manfred Möck, Mark Zak, Martin Bruchman, Martin Bruchmann, Michaela Caspar, Oliver Masucci, Paula Beer, Pit Bukowski, Rainer Bock, Rainer Reiners, Saskia Rosendahl, Sebastian Koch, Stefan Mehren, Tom Schilling, Ulrike C. Tscharre

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Rating: R

The Wave is a movie about manipulation, National Socialism and the authoritarian development at a German school. The well-liked teacher Rainer Wenger presents a social experiment to his students which quickly expands to a much larger scale. His experiment, named “Die Welle” (the wave), is part of a project week at the school about different forms of governments. During his pedagogical approach to the topic Wenger goes through an alarming process, which is fascinating to observe as a viewer. The screenplay is based on a Californian experiment “The Third Wave” from 1967 and its novel from 1981 which became a classic piece of literature in German-speaking countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Actor: Alexander Held, Amelie Kiefer, Christiane Paul, Cristina do Rego, Dennis Gansel, Elyas M'Barek, Elyas M'Barek, Fabian Preger, Ferdinand Schmidt-Modrow, Frederick Lau, Friederike Wagner, Hubert Mulzer, Jacob Matschenz, Jaime Krsto Ferkic, Jennifer Ulrich, Johanna Gastdorf, Joseph M'Barek, Jürgen Vogel, Karoline Teska, Lennard Bertzbach, Marco Bretscher-Coschignano, Maren Kroymann, Max Mauff, Max Riemelt, Maximilian Vollmar, Natascha Paulick, Odine Johne, Teresa Harder, Thomas Sarbacher, Tim Oliver Schultz, Tino Mewes

Director: Dennis Gansel

Rating: Not Rated