Berlin exists permanently in conversation with its own past, and cinema has traditionally been one of the clearest ways of tracing that dialogue. Few places have been filmed through so many transformations, and each period has left its imprint, not just on the streets of the city, but on the films made about them. This month, Film Flashback takes you on a small tour through the cinematic history of Berlin and takes a look at 10 works that capture the city from unusual angles. Taken together, they chart Berlin as a metropolis, ruin, playground, battleground and myth.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927), D: Walter Ruttmann
This film is a dazzling piece of city symphony filmmaking that turns Berlin into pure rhythm: trains, factories, crowds and neon stitched together in a kind of urban orchestra. It’s less of a story than than a pulse check on a metropolis hurtling toward modernity.
People on Sunday (1930), D: Robert Siodmak
A deceptively light snapshot of Berliners spending a lazy Sunday by the lakes, played largely by non-actors, this film is made extraordinary by ghostly hindsight: a carefree Weimar world just before history comes crashing in.
M (1931), D: Fritz Lang
Lang’s chilling manhunt thriller turns Berlin into a shadowy maze of paranoia and whispered suspicion. Anchored by Peter Lorre’s haunting performance, it remains one of cinema’s most unnerving portraits of collective fear.
Germany, Year Zero (1948), D: Roberto Rossellini
Filmed among the real ruins of postwar Berlin, Rossellini’s neorealist tragedy follows a young boy navigating moral collapse in a shattered city. It’s stark, heartbreaking and almost unbearably raw, leaving history smouldering in every frame.
One, Two, Three (1961), D: Billy Wilder
Wilder’s Cold War farce moves at breakneck speed, firing gags like machine-gun rounds as East meets West in divided Berlin. Beneath the fizzing comedy lies a wonderfully cynical portrait of capitalism, ideology and opportunism.
The Endless Night (1963), D: Will Tremper
Set almost entirely in Tempelhof Airport on a foggy night, this elegant ensemble drama captures Berlin in limbo. Strangers drift through conversations and confessions, creating a quietly hypnotic portrait of a city suspended in time.
Cabaret (1972), D: Bob Fosse
Fosse’s glittering musical peels back the decadence of Weimar nightlife to reveal dread creeping in at the edges. With electrifying Liza Minnelli at its centre, it’s as seductive as it is chilling – a great classic.
Christiane F. (1981), D: Uli Edel
This film is a brutally honest portrait of teenage addiction in West Berlin’s underground scene, anchored by a haunting performance from Natja Brunckhorst. With music from David Bowie, it’s grim, raw and impossible to shake.
Wings of Desire (1987), D: Wim Wenders
Wenders transforms the divided city into something almost metaphysical, with angels wandering through libraries, over rooftops and atop the Wall itself. It’s a film of quiet wonder that’s melancholic, philosophical and deeply in love with Berlin
The Lives of Others (2006), D: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
This gripping Cold War surveillance drama follows the story of a Stasi officer who finds his conscience slowly awakened by the lives he is ordered to monitor. Tense and humane, it’s a reminder that even within oppressive systems, empathy can still flicker into life.
