Product Description

This critically-acclaimed Oscar®-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film 2006) is the erotic emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls a nail-biter of a thriller! Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall East Germany s population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg s stunning actress-girlfriend Christa an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer s apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives - as well as his - in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is the best kind of movie: one you can t get out of your head. System Requirements:Run Time: 138 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: R UPC: 043396170858 Manufacturer No: 17085

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #338 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2007-08-21
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.com

Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this is a first-rate thriller that, like Bertolucci's The Conformist and Coppola's The Conversation, opts for character development over car chases. The place is East Berlin, the year is 1984, and it all begins with a simple surveillance assignment: Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe in a restrained, yet deeply felt performance), a Stasi officer and a specialist in this kind of thing, has been assigned to keep an eye on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch, Black Book), a respected playwright, and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck, Mostly Martha). Though Dreyman is known to associate with the occasional dissident, like blacklisted director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert), his record is spotless. Everything changes when Wiesler discovers that Minister Hempf (Thomas Thieme) has an ulterior motive in spying on this seemingly upright citizen. In other words, it's personal, and Wiesler's sympathies shift from the government to its people--or at least to this one particular person. That would be risky enough, but then Wiesler uses his privileged position to affect a change in Dreyman's life. The God-like move he makes may be minor and untraceable, but it will have major consequences for all concerned, including Wiesler himself. Writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck starts with a simple premise that becomes more complicated and emotionally involving as his assured debut unfolds. Though three epilogues is, arguably, two too many, The Lives of Others is always elegant, never confusing. It's class with feeling. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Beyond The Lives of Others

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Customer Reviews

Easily one of the 10 best movies I've ever seen.
When I finished watching this movie, I felt like it was one of the best movies I had ever seen. I was not surprised to find out later that a number of reviewers said the same thing. I happen to have had the experience of having met and corresponded with a couple of East Germans after a college trip there in 1988. I later found out that they had visted the Statsi headquarters and found out that there was a big file on us which included copies of all the letters we ever wrote. Who knows? A guy like the one portrayed in the film was probably opening my letters. In any case, this is one of those movies that just seems to get everything right. Now, almost 20 years after the wall fell, I'm glad to see a movie like this to help people remember what life in the eastern block was like in some respects.

Beautifully done
I almost turned this off 30 minutes in - I'm so glad I didn't give up! I wish I saw this when it was in the theater; it's a wonderfully made film and the end is incredibly moving. The acting is all first-rate.

A TRULY GREAT FILM!
If I should pick the five greatest films I have seen in my life, The Lives of Others would be one of them. It is a story of people living in the GDR before the collapse of the Wall. It is a study in how much people can and cannot endure.

The performances are breathtaking - no point in selecting a few of the actors to praise, as even the actors who have no lines excel in their craft. The music, the costumes, the settings, all are fitting and magnificent.

Praise must be given the most for the film's creator and director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. He spent many years of his life developing what can only be considered one of the great films of our time. He made this film with limited funds, and even when it was completed, all but one distribution company in Germany refused to be involved with it. Ha! Ha! Ha! on them when it finally won the Academy Award for best foreign film is all I can say.

I found it fascinating, after watching the film without the director's comments, to re-watch it with the comments. The director shares how the film came to birth, and the many elements which came to play in its making. I saw the film with new eyes as the director related details of each scene's making.

This is a very exciting film which I know I will watch again and again from here on! And I thank the director for his stamina and persistence in making his vision a reality.