What movies are good for learners who want to improve their grammar and vocabulary?

Question

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I want to practice my listening comprehension and build up my grammar and vocabulary.

I find movies to be a good way to do this as it is full of dialogue by native German speakers talking at normal real-life speed, and if I get really stuck I can turn on subtitles.

Things I'm looking for:

• Dialogue that is clear and close to High German or at least isn't full of strong regional dialect.
• If it teaches something about German life or culture that would be good (e.g. Goodbye Lenin).
• I'd also prefer films that are enjoyable to watch in their own right.
• Should be easily available on DVD (preferably in the UK or through sites like amazon.de).
• Should have (optional) English subtitles.

What are some recommendations for movies that learners will find beneficial?

Answer 1

Collecting the suggestions in one answer, to be edited community-wiki-style:

• Sonnenallee: about life in Eastern Berlin
• Herr Lehmann: set in West Berlin just prior to the fall of the Wall (fast dialog in places)
• Der Baader Meinhof Komplex: about Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF), an infamous terrorist organization in Western Germany
• Todesspiel: also about about Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF)
• Das Leben der Anderen (2006): about agents of the Stasi (GDR's secret police) monitoring the cultural scene of East Berlin (won an Oscar)
• Good Bye Lenin! (2003): about German Reunification
• Knocking on Heaven's Door (1997): a comedy-drama (lead actor "mumbles" a little)
• Das merkwürdige Verhalten geschlechtsreifer Großstädter zur Paarungszeit (1998): light-hearted, entertaining and contains a lot of dialogue
• NaPolA (2004): about the National Political Academy, the high schools that produced Nazi elite
• 23 - Nichts ist so wie es scheint (1998): about a group of young computer hackers from Hannover (based on the true story)
• Soul Kitchen (2009): a non-slapstick comedy about a Greek restaurant owner in Hamburg and the problems he has to go through when facing different facets of German culture.
• Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (2004): About rebelling young adults trying to fight "the system".
• Die Welle (2008): A remake of The Wave (1981) where a teacher tries to let his students understand how fascism works by creating a fictive collective called "the wave".

Also: About.com's list of movies for German learners

Answer 2

I recommend Good Bye Lenin! (2003), one of my favorite German movies. It's an entertaining film that deals with with the sudden reality when Eastern Germany merged with Western Germany. You can learn a lot about both parts of Germany and their recent history.

In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

Answer 3

Das Leben der Anderen (2006) is another great (and Oscar-winning) movie dealing with German history.

Wikipedia:

The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police.

Answer 4

If you're a geek and grew up in the 1980s (or are interested in the European 1980s):

23 - Nichts ist so wie es scheint (1998)

The movie's plot is based on the true story of a group of young computer hackers from Hannover, Germany

From Heike Angermaier's review:

Ein intelligentes und vielschichtiges Drama über das Erwachsenwerden, das Regisseur und Ko-Autor Hans-Christian Schmid auch in Nach fünf im Urwald und in Crazy eindringlich schildert. Hier nahm er sich den realen Hacker- und Industriespionage-Fall von Karl Koch als Vorbild, der in den 80er Jahren von den Medien aufgekocht wurde.

Mit Autor Michael Gutmann recherchierte er den Fall sehr ausführlich, bemühte sich aber vor allem dem Menschen Karl gerecht zu werden. Sehr schön gefilmt (einschließlich Archivmaterial aus Fernsehnachrichten der Zeit) und mit gutem Soundtrack bestückt, funktioniert der erwachsene Film, mit etwas über 680.000 Zuschauern übrigens einer der erfolgreichsten deutschen Filme des Jahres 1999, auch als spannender Politkrimi.

Answer 5

Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (2004) is a very good movie about the younger generations of Germany. Not yet grown up but neither children, these youngsters are rebelling against "the system", eventually making a very big mistake.

I think it's a very good movie to get a grab about how "not so old but not so young" people in Germany feel and of course talk.

Answer 6

Das Boot (1981): about the crew of a german submarine (2nd World War)

Answer 7

One of my favourite German movies is Das merkwürdige Verhalten geschlechtsreifer Großstädter zur Paarungszeit (1998).

It's light-hearted, entertaining and contains a lot of dialogue.

Answer 8

Knocking on Heaven's Door (1997) is a nice comedy-drama with Til Schweiger and Jan-Josef Liefers (who btw is hilarious in the Tatort TV series), both very good German actors.

Mr. Schweiger is a bit of a mumbler though, but you'll manage :-)

Answer 9

On the not-so-light-hearted, but historically interesting side is Napola (2004). Covers a rarely adressed topic from the NS time.

-- originally suggested by ladybug

Answer 10

Next to "Good Bye Lenin" another good film that tells about life in Eastern Berlin is Sonnenallee.

Answer 11

Soul kitchen (2009)

In Hamburg, German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant by hiring a more talented chef.

A comedy which avoids slapstick humor by simply telling a good story with charming characters and which highlights some curious parts of German culture by portraying them through the eyes of an immigrant.

Answer 12

Movies and sketches by Loriot such as Pappa ante Portas or Ödipussi.

Answer 13

Free Rainer - Dein Fernseher lügt (2007): fictional, about TV and manipulating viewer levels

Answer 14

Europa Europa / Hitlerjunge Salomon

A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.

This one is historical, funny, improbable (though apparently based on a true story) and most of the dialogue is fairly clear.

There's some Russian dialogue in there too.

Answer 15

There is Edgar Reitz's chilling Heimat (Film-Trilogie), covering the period 1919 - 2000.

The first of the three is not exactly free of dialect, but in the second one (Die zweite Heimat – Chronik einer Jugend) one of the main characters learns High German and there should not be too many problems in the third. Of particular mention in the second are the two episodes Zeit des Schweigens and Die Zeit der vielen Worte.

It is available from Amazon (I bought it from the German Amazon).

Answer 16

Das Experiment (2001): about the infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment".

Answer 17

There is Herr Lehmann which is about life in West Berlin just prior to the fall of the Wall (although the film doesn't pay that much attention to that fact, it's more or less bolted on).

-- originally suggested by musiKk

Answer 18

If you want to learn about an important part of history of Western Germany there is Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, which sheds some light on infamous terrorism organization Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF).

-- originally suggested by musiKk

Answer 19

Die Welle (2008) - The best movie about coping with the history of germany and how young people are trying to find their identity in the modern Germany (Of course, the original played in the US, but I think Germany's a much better place for such a movie due to history). Extremely well written script and very nice dialogues and arguments.

I can't imagine why nobody brought that one up until now...

-- originally suggested by Florian Peschka

Answer 20

Stalingrad (1993): about the encirclement of the 6th army (2nd World War)

Answer 21

In Germany, movies are generally dubbed. Therefore you can get a lot of DVDs with German and original dialogue. For beginners, it might be a good idea to choose movies that they've already watched in a more familiar language. This way the brain can fill in the blanks.

Answer 22

I also recommend Zugvögel - ... einmal nach Inari.

-- originally suggested by z7sg

Answer 23

Here are some I've watched on streaming Netflix. All of these have the original German soundtrack, with English subtitles:

The Edukators (Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei) -- An entertaining, 'Oops, we're sorry we kidnapped you' kind of story.

Requiem -- Contemporary story about a young woman, her mental illness, and religion.

Vision (Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen) -- Roughly the same premise as the preceding, set in an era when mental illness and religion were the same thing. I suspect the dialog was (intentionally) archaic.

Gentlemen in White Vests (Die Herren mit der weißen Weste) -- Very amusing 1970's-era Robin Hood-ish story.

The Seven Dwarfs (7 Zwerge) -- Funny and ridiculous, lots of good dialog.

The Forest for the Trees (Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen) -- Sad story of a socially awkward young school teacher. German dialects seem to play a role in this movie, but the subtleties were lost on me.

Answer 24

I'd recommend Die Architekten which is a relatively little-known film, made in the GDR and released after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it must have seemed completely irrelevant at that time, but now it's a fascinating insight.

Answer 25

I enjoyed "Russendisko", a film adaptation of the popular novel of the same title by Vladimir Kaminer, in which he recounts the adventure of arriving in Berlin as a Russian immigrant around the time of the fall of the DDR. It's a fun movie and the dialog is not too hard to understand.

Answer 26

I quite like Männer wie wir (de) / Balls (uk) / Guys and Balls (us).

Ecki is a young man who works in a bakery in Dortmund and plays soccer on his local team. Already under pressure for playing badly, his homophobic team-members find out that he is gay and throw him off the team. With the help of his sister and a cranky former soccer star, he tries to form an all-gay football team to challenge his old team in a grudge match.

The story is entertaining and fairly simple, so it is still reasonably easy to follow if even you don't understand everyline of dialog. As one of the main themes is football, there is a lot of football related vocab you can pick up from too.

Answer 27

Todesspiel also shed some light on infamous terrorism organization Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF), an important part of the history of Western Germany.

-- originally suggested by musiKk

Answer 28

I am seeing the short and interesting TV series called Deutschland 83 about the Cold War back in the eighties. It has a pretty good spoken language.