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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Free Rainer (Reclaim Your Brain) (2007) in Movies
Aug 9, 2017
An intelligent film about how the media is a propaganda machine
As a journalist, this German movie is a dream. It's all about quality programming, stopping mindless TV sucking out the life of viewers and finally watching some quality and meaningful television. Obviously there are conspiracy theories throughout the film, in which the TV personality hijacks the broadcasting schedule to stop politicians dumbing down the populace. But what film doesn't have a bit of action and adventure?
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2099 KP) rated Dating is Murder in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Wollie's appearance on a reality dating show gets her involved when a German au pair, and volunteer member of the crew, goes missing. The plot is a bit slow in the first half, but it picks up for the second. Wollie is a wonderful main character, and the rest of the cast is great as well.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/02/book-review-dating-is-murder-by-harley.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/02/book-review-dating-is-murder-by-harley.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Chris Carr (78 KP) rated Fury (2014) in Movies
Jan 12, 2019
Best war movie since saving private Ryan
Towards the end of ww2 allies tanks are dwindling this is a story of one tank who's crew stop german SS crews moving forward .all the feeling of war in a claustrophobic tank brotherhood & desperate measures the Germans would go to keep the foot in the war are in this movie definitely a war movie to watch if not seen it before & to watch again if you have .
Michael Barker recommended M (Movie) (1931) in Movies (curated)
The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated The Alice Network in Books
Oct 5, 2020
Inspired by the real-life Louise de Bettignies (aka Alice DuBois, aka Lili), this novel fictionalizes one of the women behind this famous titular group of spies in German-occupied Europe during the first World War, and brings her back to post-World War II France in search of one missing person, as well as resolutions to questions unanswered for nearly 30 years. Read more about this book in my review here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2017/11/25/unraveling-the-complexes/
ClareR (5603 KP) rated Valkyrie (2008) in Movies
Jun 23, 2019
Surprisingly good!
I will hold my hands up and admit that I can be very critical of films set in Germany and particularly during the Second World War. I’m a bit of a germanophile - I studied German language, literature and history at university. I read into the furore that surrounded the making of this film: the Germans didn’t want Tom Cruise to play the main part because of his affiliation with Scientology (Germans believe it’s a cult, and therefore want nothing to do with it), and Claus von Stauffenberg’s eldest son even asked Cruise to stand down from the role. They all had a rethink though, and decided that it was more important that this story was actually told. And I have to agree with them. There’s a belief that all Germans were complicit in the actions of Hitler and his National Socialists, but this isn’t true. What might be true, is that people were terrified that they would be killed for any opposing thoughts or actions - and they were right.
I was really surprised (pleasantly!) by Cruises acting in this. After my initial horror at the opening sequence where he was talking in German (my children asked if he would be speaking German throughout, and were fully prepared to go to bed early - they didn’t want to read subtitles for a whole movie, I didn’t want to hear the shocking pronunciation!😆), it really picked up! The British actors really made it for me (I could well be accused of bias, but well, I don’t care 🤷🏼♀️), and Eddie Izzard was the most surprising - I really need to stop being surprised that he can act well!
It’s a good film! We had a good family film night anyway, and I think it’s worth watching.
I was really surprised (pleasantly!) by Cruises acting in this. After my initial horror at the opening sequence where he was talking in German (my children asked if he would be speaking German throughout, and were fully prepared to go to bed early - they didn’t want to read subtitles for a whole movie, I didn’t want to hear the shocking pronunciation!😆), it really picked up! The British actors really made it for me (I could well be accused of bias, but well, I don’t care 🤷🏼♀️), and Eddie Izzard was the most surprising - I really need to stop being surprised that he can act well!
It’s a good film! We had a good family film night anyway, and I think it’s worth watching.
Charley (64 KP) rated The Book Thief in Books
Feb 16, 2019
Powerful and moving.
I was unable to put this book down from the start.
The book Thief is set in a WW2 Germany and follows the life of Leisel Merminger and her struggles in a Nazi Germany.
Before I go into more detail of the storyline I want to first mention how moving it is to see the second world war from a different perspective. I knew that the German people didn't have it easy during the war as well as the allies but it isn't often spoken about. The pressure that the German people were under to conform to the Nazi regime was imense and this book shows this perfectly. It outlines the day to day struggles of a regular family.
This book is a brilliant read and I feel the best part about it is that it is narrated by Death. This gives a little bit of humour to an otherwise quite intense and dark read.
I feel everyone should give this brilliant book a go.
The book Thief is set in a WW2 Germany and follows the life of Leisel Merminger and her struggles in a Nazi Germany.
Before I go into more detail of the storyline I want to first mention how moving it is to see the second world war from a different perspective. I knew that the German people didn't have it easy during the war as well as the allies but it isn't often spoken about. The pressure that the German people were under to conform to the Nazi regime was imense and this book shows this perfectly. It outlines the day to day struggles of a regular family.
This book is a brilliant read and I feel the best part about it is that it is narrated by Death. This gives a little bit of humour to an otherwise quite intense and dark read.
I feel everyone should give this brilliant book a go.
I haven't read anything before about World War II from the German perspective and therefore was very interested to see how this is portrayed from that angle and whilst I found this book definitely provided insight of what it was like from Raffeiner's eyes, from what I have read in other books and seen in documentary's, I'm not sure how much was "missed", "forgotten" or "locked away" as the memories are too painful or too awful to talk about.
This is however a valuable read if you want to get some idea of what it was like for a "simple" German soldier; the vivid descriptions of the hardships of being on the Eastern frontline and how luck played a huge part in his life are well documented and it also gives a really good account of Raffeiner's tough early years growing up and the choices he had to make.
Whilst this isn't what I feel a comprehensive book on this subject, it is an important individual and personal story that is captivating and I need to thank Pen & Sword Books and NetGalley for a copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
This is however a valuable read if you want to get some idea of what it was like for a "simple" German soldier; the vivid descriptions of the hardships of being on the Eastern frontline and how luck played a huge part in his life are well documented and it also gives a really good account of Raffeiner's tough early years growing up and the choices he had to make.
Whilst this isn't what I feel a comprehensive book on this subject, it is an important individual and personal story that is captivating and I need to thank Pen & Sword Books and NetGalley for a copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
Dean (6925 KP) rated The Experiment (2010) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
A remake of the German film Das Experiment which was based on a real social study in the 70's. It has a good cast and is an interesting topic to see how peoples behaviour can change given a certain situation. Everyone has a breaking point and acts differently when given power, authority or treated badly. People can change very quickly from what you expect and within a group. However the film is quite brutal at times, but I just felt the ending let it down a bit. Still worth a watch.
Dork_knight74 (881 KP) rated Cargo: Space is Cold (2012) in Movies
Aug 1, 2018
Find this one in Amazon. It's in German with English subtitles but was a pretty interesting sci-fi thriller. The acting was decent enough and the effects weren't too bad. The story unfolds a bit slow but it's interesting enough if you pay attention. It's definitely an interesting idea. Involves the concept of space travel to other passengers because of what we have done to earth and he technology is used by the "government" to fool us into believing there's a utopia like planet that we've habitated. Worth a watch if you're bored.