Top 250

Das Leben Der Anderen (2006)
Number 75 on IMDb's Top 250

Hilarity ensues in the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany. In the early 1980s, the successful dramatist Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so a state security agent Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more...

Trivia: The film set a record in 2006 for getting the most nominations (11) for the German Film Awards ever. The Brecht poem that Wiesler reads is called "Erinnerung an die Marie A.". The typewriter ink is the only red item in the movie.

This is the movie that beat Pan's Labyrinth for the Best Foreign Picture Oscar this year. It was a lot more subtle then Pan's Labyrinth for sure. And that may have been to it's advantage. I really like the contrast between the life of the police agent and well, the lives of others. It is easy to see why he became so intranced with Dreyman. His life was solitary, lonely, and as an officer, other lower ranked policemen were afraid of him and the other officers, while the other officers were only interested in furthering their careers. In Dreyman he found a man that enjoyed art, had lots of friends, and a solid relationship. Wiesler began living vicariously through Dreyman. What I was hoping for was a little more manipulation. What I mean by that is that two times Wiesler secretly interferred in the lives of Dreyman and Sieland (once in each) and I would have liked to see a little more of that. But on the other hand, Wiesler wouldn't have been as compassionate in the end as he turned out to be. It was a good film and on par with Pan's Labyrinth, but I don't know if I would have voted it better.