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The Lives of Others
Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police. Gerd Wiesler, an agent of the Stasi, the East German Secret Police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
23 March 1956, Sonthofen, Germany
29 March 1974, Düsseldorf, Germany
13 May 1971, Freiberg, German Democratic Republic
10 February 1943, Germany
11 June 1955, Wuppertal, Germany
10 September 1957, Meiningen, German Democratic Republic
1968, Lagos, Nigeria
1956
1999
1949, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
29 July 1957, Viernheim, Hesse, Germany
1978
20 September 1938, Dresden, Germany
29 October 1948, Weimar, Thuringia, Germany
30 November 1974, Rostock, German Democratic Republic
20 June 1953, Grimma, East Germany
1954, German Democratic Republic
20 May 1958, Arnsberg, Westphalia, Germany
1959, West Berlin, West Germany
3 February 1978
1971
4 December 1972, Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
1957, Munich, Bavaria, Germany
29 September 1964, Berlin, Germany
August 24, 2009
If the filmmaker commits a crime, it's in pushing the [Stasi] character's rehabilitation slightly too far--about as much as the weight of a teardrop.June 24, 2008
A truly unforgettable movie.June 09, 2008
Although Henckel von Donnersmarck has a number of genuinely good ideas ... the film is marred by redundancy, indecision and clumsiness.August 05, 2011
The scope is especially impressive given that the movie is about a society obsessively focused on the tiniest of details.March 02, 2007
A political thriller that's consistently as inventive as it is creepy.September 26, 2014
Reopens our eyes to the cruelties and soul assassinations that were carried out daily in the name of state socialism.March 02, 2007
Few would deny that The Lives of Others is true to its self, and in its depiction of human nature -- and human spirit.March 16, 2007
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film is a melodrama in a minor key, quietly affecting, quietly chilling, quietly quiet. It captures the drab architecture of totalitarianism, the soul-dead buildings of a soul-dead state.September 19, 2010
Activism proves tough on people who've thrived at their political patrons' blessings, and one character cruelly chooses a path of least resistance when the chips are down. A cataclysmic conclusion depicts political clamps on expression and emotion.March 02, 2007
Its suspense builds on the fragile and nuanced business of emotional rebirth.March 02, 2007
Watch it, and you may get the feeling it's also watching you.September 21, 2007
The Lives of Others is a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires.