Top Ranked Films from Germany

[2011 update]
© William L. Sinclair
This continues our top ranked films on all film polls, 2011 edition, by individual countries. The first list here is just Germany, and we merged West Germany into these; 29 total in the top 1000, down from 35. The second list is just the multi-country productions that included Germany, with 27 in the top 1000, down from 38. The last list is my own personal favorite 30 German films, and I stuck with German directors only.


Germany and West Germany

1. Metropolis (1927) Lang, Fritz #7 [production still above]
2. M (1931) Lang, Fritz #16
3. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) Herzog, Werner #83
4. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) Murnau, F.W. #112
5. Lives of Others, The (2006) von Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel #134
6. Blue Angel, The (1930) von Sternberg, Josef #196
7. Das Boot (1981) Peterson, Wolfgang #233
8. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #279
9. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1919) Wiene, Robert #292
10. Downfall (2004) Hirschbiegel, Oliver #328
11. Vampyr (1932) Dreyer, Carl #349
12. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1971) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #409
13. Fitzcarraldo (1982) Herzog, Werner #425
14. Marriage of Maria Braun, The (1979) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #481
15. Last Laugh (1924) Murnau, F.W. #508
16. White Ribbon, The (2009) Haneke, Michael #522
17. Grizzly Man (2005) Herzog, Werner #541
18. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The (1974) Herzog, Werner #555
19. Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The (1972) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #602
20. Triumph of the Will (1935) Riefenstahl, Leni #615
21. Faust (1926) Murnau, F.W. #619
22. Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (1922) Lang, Fritz #641
23. Kings of the Road (1976) Wenders, Wim #643
24. Olympia (1938) Riefenstahl, Leni #701
25. Alice in the Cities (1974) Wenders, Wim #704
26. In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #710
27. Tin Drum, The (1979) Schlöndorff, Volker #903
28. Fox and His Friends (1975) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #958
29. Run Lola Run (1998) Tykwer, Tom #1001
30. Tiger of Eschnapur, The (1959) Lang, Fritz #1016

Lang, Murnau, Herzog - these are not only deservedly at the top of this list but are also among my favorite directors. Each seemed to make his films into works of art.

Fitzcarraldo remains a favorite 'obsession on film', a grand adventure as crazy as its director. Les Blank's documentary Burden of Dreams chronicles the making of the film and Herzog's own obsession. I was also riveted by The Lives of Others, and Das Boot.

Even today, the filmmaking artistry of Leni Reifenstahl is undeniable; she undoubtably gets moved down the list because it's all Third Reich propaganda, but those interested in creative camera work and direction should definitely see these, at least Olympia, which documented the 1936 Olympics.

Multi-Country with Germany
1. Conformist, The (1970) Bertolucci, Bernardo #45 Italy-France-Germany
2. Pianist, The (2002) Polanski, Roman #142 France-Gy-UK-Poland
3. City of God (2002) Meirelles, Fernando #121 Brazil-Germany-France
4. Wings of Desire (1987) Wenders, Wim #165 Germany-France
5. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964) Demy, Jacques #187 France-Germany
6. Fight Club (1999) Fincher, David #201 US-Germany
7. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) Ki-duk Kim #351 South Korea-Gy
8. Dead Man (1995) Jarmusch, Jim #424 US-Germany
9. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) Tarr, Bela & Hranitzky, Agnes #504 Hung-It-Gy-France
10. 1900 (1976) Bertolucci, Bernardo #505 France-Germany-Italy
11. V for Vendetta (2005) McTeigue, James #507 US-UK-Germany
12. Hidden (Caché, 2005) Haneke, Michael #534 Germany-Fr-Aus-Ity
13. Sátántangó (1994) Tarr, Béla #542 Hungary-Germany-Switzerland
14. Germany, Year Zero (1947) Rossellini, Roberto #580 Italy-West Germany
15. Underground (1995) Kusturica, Emir #633 France-Germany-Hungary
16. Edge of Heaven, The (2007) Akin, Fatih #783 Germany-Turkey-Italy
17. Film Unfinished, A (2010) Hersonski, Yael #805 Germany-Israel
18. Fateless (2005) Koltai, Lajos #844 Hungary-GY
19. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) Herzog, Werner #880 Can-US-Fr-UK-Gy
20. Dogville (2003) von Trier, Lars #897 Den-Swe-UK-Fr-Gy
21. Antonio das Mortes (1969) Rocha, Glauber #904 Brazil-Fr-Gy
22. Our Daily Bread (2005) Geyrhalter, Nikolaus #905 Germany-Austria
23. Sweet Sixteen (2002) Loach, Ken #912 UK-Gy-Spain
24. Dancer in the Dark (2000) von Trier, Lars #917 Sp-Arg-Gy-UK-Neth-Fr-Swe
25. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The (2000) Butler, George #935 Sw-UK-Gy-US
26. Nostalgia for the Light (2010) Guzmán, Patricio #936 France-Gy-Chile
27. Paragraph 175 (2000) Epstein, Rob & Friedman, Jeffrey #986 UK-US-Germany

The Conformist remains one of my favorite films from any era. For me, Bertolucci's finest, and the influence on Coppola is obvious as this seems to have inspired the Godfather films. However, this is almost a total Italian film so I've placed it in my list of Italian favorites and removed it from here.


City of God is a modern masterpiece, a literal war in the streets of what's considered the worst slums in our hemisphere; this is my favorite Brazilian film, but it's not really a German film. Same with Fight Club, which I liked a lot.

My Favorites
* = unranked - 10 titles added, Doc = documentary
 [AA]  = academy award for best foreign language film 
click links for our review

1. Run Lola Run (1998) Tykwer, Tom #1001 [Our Review]
2. Lives of Others, The (2006) von Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel #134 [AA] [photo above]
3. Good Bye Lenin (2003) Becker, Wolfgang *
4. Das Boot (1981) Peterson, Wolfgang #233
5. Fitzcarraldo (1982) Herzog, Werner #425
6. Triumph of the Will (1935) Riefenstahl, Leni #615 (Doc.)
7. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) Tykwer, Tom *
8. Downfall (2004) Hirschbiegel, Oliver #328
9. Metropolis (1927) Lang, Fritz #7
10. Fateless (2005) Koltai, Lajos #844 Hungary-GY
11. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) Herzog, Werner #83
12. Nowhere in Africa (2002) Link, Caroline * [AA]
13. M (1931) Lang, Fritz #16
14. Olympia (1938) Riefenstahl, Leni #701 (Doc.)
15. Beyond Silence (1996) Link, Caroline *
16. The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003) Byambasuren Davaa & Luigi Falorni * Germany-Mongolia (Doc.)
17. Wings of Desire (1987) Wenders, Wim #165 Germany-France
18. White Ribbon, The (2009) Haneke, Michael #522
19. The Harmonists (1999) Vilsmaier, Joseph *
20. The Tunnel (2001) Richter, Roland Suso *
21. Gloomy Sunday (1999) Schübel, Rolf *
22. Blue Angel, The (1930) von Sternberg, Josef #196
23. Last Laugh (1924) Murnau, F.W. #508
24. Touch the Sound (2004) Riedelsheimer, Thomas * (Doc.)
25. Marriage of Maria Braun, The (1979) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #481
26. Cobra Verde (1987) Herzog, Werner *
27. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1971) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #409
28. Tin Drum, The (1979) Schlöndorff, Volker #903
29. In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) Fassbinder, Rainer Werner #710
30. Hidden (Caché, 2005) Haneke, Michael #534 Germany-Fr-Aus-Ity

Tom Tykwer is so creative, he's my favorite modern German director, while Herzog, Lang, and Murnau are the all-time masters here. Run, Lola, Run starts with a phone call, and Lola's boyfriend has lost some money - if she can't get to him in 20 minutes, he's a dead dude.. so the race is on, and never lets up..