One of the best foreign films ever!

Chilling film about a loyal Stasi (secret police) agent who spies on a playwright and his lover, accused of being agitators. The agent begins to question his loyalty and makes a decision that changes the lives of all three during (unbeknownst to them) a pivotal moment in German history.

A powerful drama, excellently acted and produced.

"The Lives of Others" (Das Leben der Anderen) starts (and is mainly set) in 1984. The secret police, known as the Stasi, give East Germany the ability to control, manipulate and silence its citizens.

The movie follows a high ranking Stasi officer of unquestionable loyalty. As the movie progresses, we follow his moral dilemma progress - to work for the state, or for the people. There is a strong theme of the ability of art to humanize man.

I don't want to give the story away and I'm terrible at reviewing films, but I highly recommend seeing this. The sense of fear; of overwhelming control; of trusting no-one, is well played. And yet we see the human side emerge in so many ways, with all the consequences that entailed in the German Democratic Republic. It's a real thriller without any action scenes.

In German with English subtitles.