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2006, 137 minutes, Rated MA
Following in the footsteps of the German hit "Downfall" is the extraordinary film "The Lives of Others". Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film and winner of three prestigious European Film Awards including Best Film, it goes to the very heart of recent German history, tackling the East German secret police, the dreaded Stasi.
1984. Five years before the Berlin Wall collapsed. It was a time when the terrifying Stasi made it their business to use an extensive network of spies and surveillance to know every secret thing about their citizens. Introduced first is Stasi Capt. Gerd Wiesler. At first he seems like he is one of the worst of the worst, a soulless servant of the state, a true believer and brilliantly skilled officer.
In counterpoint, an artist who has managed to stay under the intrusive government's radar is Georg Dreyman, one of the country's most popular - and loyal - playwrights, who is in love with the accomplished actress, Christa-Maria Sieland. However, the couple's apparently safe world is about to be turned upside-down when Dreyman - precisely because he has neither said nor written anything suspicious - becomes a Stasi suspect.
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