Overview
A gripping legal drama that unravels the complexities of justice and personal betrayal.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- somber
- empathetic
- morally unsettling
- serious movie night
- historical drama evening
What critics said
Critics broadly find the film an effective, emotionally forceful legal drama that uses a murder trial to confront Germany's Nazi legacy, even when its courtroom mechanics are conventional.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Caspar's defense of Collini forces him to confront how postwar German law treated perpetrators of Nazi-era crimes.
Collini's killing and silence gradually connect the murder trial to violence and culpability from the Nazi period.
Caspar defends Collini while grieving the murdered industrialist who had served as a father figure.
The initial homicide prosecution expands into a historical inquiry that changes the meaning of the killing and its motives.
Films like The Collini Case, and why
The Reader
shared legal drama structure, moral investigation, and reckoning with Nazi-era crimes
A Few Good Men
shared courtroom tension, historical injustice, and emotionally charged pursuit of truth
The Lives of Others
shared German historical memory, postwar guilt, and intimate moral drama
Judgment at Nuremberg
shared courtroom mystery, buried wartime culpability, and a young investigator confronting institutional history
Movie Details
- Director
- Marco Kreuzpaintner
- Release Date
- 2019-04-18
- Runtime
- 118 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (448)
Cast
- Elyas M'Barek
- Heiner Lauterbach
- Alexandra Maria Lara
- Jannis Niewöhner
- Rainer Bock
- Catrin Striebeck
- Franco Nero
- Pia Stutzenstein
- Peter Prager
- Manfred Zapatka
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Collini Case about?
- A novice defense lawyer discovers that his first murder trial is inseparable from Germany’s unresolved Nazi past and his own divided loyalties.
- What is The Collini Case like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Collini Case as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Collini Case violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Collini Case as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Collini Case?
- Critics broadly find the film an effective, emotionally forceful legal drama that uses a murder trial to confront Germany's Nazi legacy, even when its courtroom mechanics are conventional.
- Which films are like The Collini Case?
- Films with a similar feel include The Reader, A Few Good Men, The Lives of Others, and Judgment at Nuremberg.
- How long is The Collini Case?
- The Collini Case runs 118 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Collini Case?
- In United States, The Collini Case is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
