Das Leben der Anderen (2006)

Tanja reminded me that I wanted for a long time to write about several German movies. 'The life of others' (I assume this would be an acceptable translation - if not, German friends, bitte, hilfe) won the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year and it is arguably a better film than The Departed. I also liked it very much. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is the director and the writer of this East-German story and he does it all quite well. I like how the moments develop in measured military step to a culminating double-beat ending and I love the fact that the tension is never (not even at the very end) completely released. Fact which probably makes the Film stay with you as well as the clear lines that shape de characters. Most of all I love the way characters shift. For this I have to thank also to Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch and especially Ulrich Mühe. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler is a complex part and U. Mühe does it with the right tension. It almost appears that the character is always surprised by his own change but this surprise stays well inside the part of STASI officer who deals with it...professionally. Thanks to Kaspar for recommending it.