The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)

East Berlin, 1984.

Captain Gerd Wiesler is one of the most efficient and trusty officers of Stasi, the State Police monitoring private life of DDR citizens.

He is in charge of keeping tabs on a well known playwright, Georg Dreyman, who has always attained to the Party directions. Actually the Minister of Culture is fond of Dreyman’s girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland, and would be very keen to find any evidence against him to be able to have “full scope” in flirting with her.

However, Gerd Wiesler will soon become a discreet witness and party to their life: thanks to the writer sensitiveness and principles, that will touch Wiesler and will let him change his point of view, by the time, and let him choose for humanity, friendship and mercy rather than the major scope of his official governmental role.

The director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, was just a child in 1984, when the Berlin Wall was 46 km long and splitted the city in two. That’s why the movie is so rich in details and memories from that time and make it so moving and delicate.

For further information, I suggest you check on The Lives of Others official website.