The Lives of Others
A very very competent German film about the invasion of members of the Stasi secret police in the lives of a theatre director and his actress girlfriend in 1985 before the Wall fell. As a portrayal of life in that period with its drab lifestyle and constant spying, it is a dar cry from Goodbye Lenin. Director and writer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has made a film that grabs you from the start and keeps you hooked to see what the outcomes and payoffs are. Central to this tale is Wiesler (the impeturbable Ulrich Muhe) who plays your small man intelligence agent who is, in a way, playing out of his league but is skilled enough to do a good job. And yet, he becomes fascinated with his targets 
George Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and top actress girlfriend Christa Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) and his own humdrum life takes on more meaning. Meanwhile his boss, Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) and Hempf (Thomas Thieme), the Minister 
who is interested in Christa Maria 
are breathing down his neck In a way all the characters are stuck in a game where there are no winners and the choices each of them make mark their future. Apart from the flawless pacing and the sympathetic score by Gabriel Yared, the script is intelligent enough to let the audience work some things out for themselves and leads to a simple and excellent ending which is rather unexpected. The acting is uniformly good with Muhe, Gedeck and Tukur all shining. Nice to see a film that matches up all round and gives us a meaty watch.
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