A Stasi trainer, Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), is ordered to place a famous play writer Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) under constant surveillance. The orders come from the highest echelons of the government, but Wiesler slowly begins to understand that the motives for them may not be as patriotic as they should. And at the same time the life of these two content souls begins to lure him in.Despite this film being just over a decade old, it feels much older. And in this case that works in the film's favour, giving it an authentic feel, like it could have happened right there and then. it gives the film weight, which is good, because Stasi and their human right violations are some of the darkest aspects of East German history. And yet, at the same time the film tries to shy away from black and white moralizing. Wiesler's character, despite being a high-ranking Stasi officer, is not a monster, does posses a soul and certainly has his sympathetic moments. This has apparently caused certain amount of controversy, some believing that Stasi and its legacy should be shown no mercy, no sympathy. Which seems uncomfortably harsh to me.Then again, I was only a few months old when the Berlin Wall came down. For me, this is history, something that happened in the distant past. It's funny for me to think that the events of this film took place when my parents were teenagers or young adults. The world has certainly changed since then.For me this film is more interesting than it is good. Certainly it's acted well and directing is superb, but it still seems more like a gateway into a subject, a conversation starter, rather than a great movie in its own right.

This movie was surreal. It wasn't just a movie but an experience, both thrilling and beautiful. One of those movies i will remember for life.

A winner Oscar movie sometimes is overrated by critics or excited audience, but this is not the case here. For more than two hours,you will go in a journey of one of best dramatic & thrilling adventures of the secret police of East Germany "Stasi".The movie start with an investigation scene of a suspect by a "Stasi" officer "Gerd Wiesler", then he tries to move his ways of investigations to his students in order to be great "Stasi" officers.He will move to the surveillance of "Georg Dreyman",then the events follow in a great sequence while we are watching how the power can control each element of the society,how it can be misused to achieve personal interests and how the opinion of power holders can be wrong.The most stunning thing you will watch in the movie is the perfect acting of "Ulrich Mühe" who plays the role of "Gerd Wiesler" the "Stasi" officer, he really nailed it in every small detail in each corner of the character, his rigid non smiling face throughout the movie makes you believe he was a former "Stasi" officer.Finally, it's one of the best non-English speaking movies, it tells the story of the conflict between East & West Germany in a simple way. It's a beautiful drama/thriller movie that will not get bored watching it more than a time.

"The Lives of Others" left a strong impression on me about Germany during the time the wall was up and the Stasi controlled the lives of others. Although the movie had many complexities and themes, I will only touch on a few of the questions I had from the film and the main theme. There were a few things in the movie that did not make sense to me. Why did Wiesler remove the evidence from under the floor board at the end of the movie? This would have saved Dreymann but it would have ended Christa Maria. It seems like she would be imprisoned for lying. Why would Wiesler want Christa imprisoned? Did he like Dreymann better? My next question is why the mission ended after Christa committed suicide? Was this because the Stasi now felt bad for Dreymann or because they honestly thought he was innocent after not finding evidence under the floorboard?"The Lives of Others" had several main themes. I think the most important theme was what it means to be a good person. After watching this movie I can not help but look at people in my own life and think "that is a good man." I felt sorry for Wiesler, because he had no love. I saw the most character growth with him and by the end of the movie I think most people can agree that he is a good man. Dreymann seems to be a good man throughout the film and he grows as a character when he takes a stand against the Stasi. Christa Maria in my opinion, is a good person, she just has some personal insecurities. Overall, this was a well put together movie with many more elements and complexities and themes.