The 20 Best German Films of All Time

Spanning silent Expressionist nightmares, New German Cinema provocations and modern Oscar darlings, this lineup runs from arthouse daring to blockbuster spectacle. Where do you stand?

1

Metropolis

Fritz Lang's 1927 silent science-fiction epic, a landmark of German Expressionism set in a dystopian future city.

1000pts

2

Wings of Desire

Wim Wenders' 1987 poetic fantasy about an angel who longs to become human in divided Berlin.

695pts

3

The Marriage of Maria Braun

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1979 drama tracing a woman's rise through postwar West Germany.

618pts

4

Fitzcarraldo

Werner Herzog's 1982 epic about a dreamer who hauls a steamship over a mountain to build an opera house.

534pts

5

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Fassbinder's 1974 drama about a romance between an older German woman and a younger Moroccan migrant.

534pts

6

The Tin Drum

Volker Schlondorff's 1979 Palme d'Or and Oscar winner about a boy who refuses to grow up in Nazi-era Danzig.

463pts

7

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

A 1920 silent horror film whose jagged, painted sets defined German Expressionist cinema.

463pts

8

All Quiet on the Western Front

The 2022 Oscar-winning WWI epic following a young German soldier's disillusionment in the trenches.

463pts

9

Phoenix

Christian Petzold's 2014 postwar drama about a Holocaust survivor searching for the husband who may have betrayed her.

463pts

10

The White Ribbon

Michael Haneke's 2009 Palme d'Or winner about strange events in a German village before WWI.

463pts

11

M

Fritz Lang's 1931 thriller starring Peter Lorre as a child murderer hunted by police and the criminal underworld alike.

379pts

12

Das Boot

Wolfgang Petersen's 1981 claustrophobic WWII drama following the crew of a German U-boat.

379pts

13

Good Bye, Lenin!

A 2003 tragicomedy in which a son recreates a vanished East Germany to protect his ailing mother.

379pts

14

The Lives of Others

The 2006 Oscar-winning drama about a Stasi officer surveilling a playwright in East Germany.

379pts

15

Nosferatu

F. W. Murnau's 1922 unauthorized Dracula adaptation and one of the most influential vampire films ever made.

278pts

16

Toni Erdmann

Maren Ade's 2016 comedy-drama about a prankster father reconnecting with his corporate daughter.

278pts

17

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Werner Herzog's 1972 fever-dream about a conquistador's doomed Amazon expedition, starring Klaus Kinski.

278pts

18

Victoria

Sebastian Schipper's 2015 thriller shot in a single continuous take across one Berlin night.

154pts

19

Run Lola Run

Tom Tykwer's kinetic 1998 thriller in which Lola races against time across three branching scenarios.

154pts

20

Downfall

The 2004 historical drama depicting Hitler's final days in his Berlin bunker, with Bruno Ganz.

154pts