You probably recognize German actor August Diehl from his roles in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Salt or the recently released Allied. But this Berlin-born actor has quite the list of German language titles to his name. Here are this month’s film recommendations for practicing your German language skills featuring actor August Diehl!
About August Diehl
The son of an actor father (Hans Diehl) and a costume designer mother, Diehl was born in Berlin. He made his onscreen debut in 1998’s 23 – Nichts ist so wie es scheint. The film focuses on German hacker Karl Koch, portrayed by Diehl. The cause of his death, at the young age of 23, is in dispute.
Since then, August Diehl has gone on to become a star of both stage and screen. He has a significant number of theater credits to his name. He’s even appeared in a few music videos, including Herbert Grönemeyer‘s “Schiffsverkehr.”
Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters)
The 2007 film Die Fälscher is the work of writer and director Stefan Ruzowitzky. It’s inspired by the real life events of Operation Bernhard, the Nazi’s plan to bring the British economy to its knees by flooding the market with forged bank notes. The plan involved using concentration camp prisoners. The film stars Diehl as Adolf Burger, a trained typesetter and printer imprisoned in the camp.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Wer wenn nicht wir (If Not Us, Who?)
Wer wenn nicht wir follows the lives of Bernward Vesper and Gudrun Ensslin (portrayed by Diehl and Lena Lauzemis, respectively). The film picks up in the early 1960s. He’s the son of a Nazi author and she the daughter of a pastor. A seemingly unlikely pair. Their relationship is chronicled as politics and current events become a larger part of their everyday lives. Ensslin later became a founder of the leftist militant group the Red Army Faction.
Der junge Karl Marx (The Young Karl Marx)
Diehl plays the title role and gets to flex his polylingual muscles in Der junge Karl Marx. Released in the winter of 2017, the film follows the early years (from about 1843 to 1848) of philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, portrayed by Stefan Konarske. Together, the two begin developing a labor movement at a crucial time in history.
Practice practice practice! Discover other great German language actors and actresses previously featured.
Top photo by Maximilian Bühn, CC-BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0. This post contains affiliate links.
