| Kino auf DVD und VHS | |
| German Movies on DVD + Film Title Quiz 2 | |
Also see: German Movie Guide
You can order this German film
starring Franka Potente on DVD.
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Since I last wrote about the 1999 success of “Run Lola Run” (“Lola rennt”), its star, director and German cinema have continued to make an impact, both in North America and in Germany. “Run Lola Run” with Franka Potente on DVD and video continues to be a hot seller in Germany and elsewhere. Potente has also appeared in several more German pictures and a Hollywood film (“Blow”) since playing the red-haired Lola. She will soon make another Hollywood screen appearance in “The Bourne Identity” with Matt Damon.
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Before You Buy German DVDs/Videos
But it is German-language films that we want, and a recent Potente vehicle, the 2000 German movie “Der Krieger und die Kaiserin,” was released in North America in 2001 as “The Princess and the Warrior” (changing both the order and the meaning of the German title). The Tom Tykwer film managed to reach the 29th spot in the top 50 US box office rankings, despite the fact that it never played in more than 31 theaters in its best week. (See a review of the film by About's World Film Guide Jurgen Fauth.) In “The Princess and the Warrior,” Potente plays Sissi, a nurse in a psycho ward who has an almost fatal encounter with a truck and then tries to track down the mysterious stranger who saved her life (via an all-too-graphic tracheotomy!) Director Tykwer (“Run Lola Run,”) once again plays around with how seemingly minor decisions can radically change a person's fate.
Potente in “der krieger + die kaiserin”
as Sissi the psycho ward nurse.
Sony Pictures
For German-learners, this bounty of German cinema offers the marvelous advantage of hearing German in an entertaining context – either in a cinema or on DVD or video cassette. Though it was not as big a hit as “Run Lola Run,” it is most likely that “The Princess and the Warrior” will also be released on DVD and video outside of Germany. As I pointed out in a previous article, DVD Details, German films on DVD offer many advantages over plain old VHS video, not the least of which is the option of playing the movie in the original German – with or without subtitles.
If you have either a computer with a DVD-video drive or a multisystem/mulitcode DVD player, there is another option open to you: German Code-2 DVDs! The big advantage of buying German DVDs is a much larger selection of available titles (and languages). Many good German films never make it to video outside of the German-speaking region, and you can also get Hollywood films with a German soundtrack. But you need to know how to work with DVD region codes and a few other tricks if you want to play German DVDs outside of Europe. Luckily, you'll find most of what you need to know on our DVD Guide pages.
NEXT > A Funny German Western? - 'Der Schuh des Manitu'
Also see: Top German DVDs and Videos
Before You Buy German DVDs/Videos
> 1: Kino auf DVD
> 2: A Funny German Western?
> 3: Filmtitel-Lexikon
> 4: Film Title Quiz 2
> Sources of DVD/Video
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