The Lives Of Others (DVD) Reviews

note: also appears on Flixster and The Student Room The Lives of Others is a superb German film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2007. It is frequently compared with works as far and wide as George Orwell's 1984 to The Truman Show. In its examination of a deadly surveillance model that goes beyond the means of simply ...  Read the complete review

Oscar winning The Lives of Others plonks itself into early 80's East Germany and focuses on their 'Stasi' - the Secret Police. What a fun bunch they are. Rigorously spying on people, monitoring politically rebellious behaviour and delivering punishing interrogations. But when one of their best, Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) is assigned to ...  Read the complete review

The Lives of Others, "Das Leben der Anderen" is an incredible film. This film is set in East Berlin and follows the life of a Stasi Catain, Gerd Wiesler, who is monitoring the cultural scene and in particular Georg Dreyman and his lover Christa-Marie Sieland. I can't pretend I know what it was really like to live with the threat of ...  Read the complete review

This film won best foreign language Oscar at the 2007 ceremony. It is a most absorbing film, completely involving in all of its considerable length. Wiesler is a Captain in the Stasi (the Communist East German Secret Police), a model operator, high-principled and committed, experienced too, a man the state can absolutely trust. Among other things ...  Read the complete review

The German term "Ostalgie", referring to a sense of nostalgia for the East, has manifested itself throughout the country's culture in the years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall (part of the period known as die Wende, or "the change"). Music and memorabilia have reflected the fondness for the past, as has film; Goodbye ...  Read the complete review

The Lives of Others (German title: Das Leben der Anderen) is an absorbing account of 4 lives in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that is intriguing and subtly unsettling. The premise of the film starts with committed believer in the East German regime and stasi (secret police) captain Gerd Wiesler asks his former classmate and ...  Read the complete review

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Written by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Genre: Drama Country: German Certification: 15+ Language: German (English Subtitles) Released: 17th September, 2007 (DVD) MAIN CAST: Martina Gedeck (Christa-Maria Sieland) Ulrich Mühe (Hauptmann Gerd ...  Read the complete review

The Lives of Others is a touching and yet incredibly scary look at East Germany before the fall of communism. In East Berlin in 1984, the Stasi (East German Secret Police), are gaining more and more control, spying on German citizens, asking families and friends to spy on each other for the 'cause', and recruiting thousands of them to ...  Read the complete review

The Lives of Others is a German, and therefore subtitled, movie released in 2006. It gained critical praise, being nominated and winning the academy award for best foreign picture although personally I'd have given it to Pan's Labyrinth. Set in East Berlin before the fall of the wall the story follows the lives of playwright George ...  Read the complete review

Hope Always Dies Last The Lives of Others is hot favorite to win best foreign film at tonight's BAFTAs; some say that this level of foreign film is worthy of being included in the top best picture categories at the big award ceremonies. With the Oscars still not confirmed, tonight's awards will hopefully be the biggest and best this ...  Read the complete review

To say I left this film with tears in my eyes would be an understatement. My face was wet and I was so immersed in the plot and the emotion surrounding it, I was rooted to my seat until the last of the credits rolled off the screen and a fuzzy cinema advert jerked me back into the cinema, 2007. This five star film deserves every award ...  Read the complete review

What’s it about? --------------------- A top Stasi (Secret Police) Officer is assigned to listen in on a renowned East German playwright. It is an experience which has far-reaching consequences for both. Who’s in it? ---------------- Unless you are an aficionado of German cinema, the chances are the cast will be ...  Read the complete review

The place is East Berlin, the year is 1984, and the police are listening. This time, they're observing writer Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), even though his work is pro-socialism. So what's the problem? In this case, it is because the Minister of Culture has the hots for Georg's girlfriend, the lovely actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina ...  Read the complete review