Another great German movie

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 2007)

Generally, I thought this was a great movie, very well done, very suspenseful. The ending was a great bit of closure - a nice touch where Georg could let Wiesler know that he knew what Wiesler had done for him. I would have liked Georg and Wiesler to have a conversation, but maybe that would have been too much of a Hollywood ending.
My main negative about the movie is that I didn't understand why Wiesler was so affected by the lives of Georg and Christa-Maria. Clearly his life was empty, but he was an experienced agent and had spied on many people, which probably included artists. I didn't see why he would feel such sympathy for these two to the point of putting himself at risk. But if you just take his feelings and reasons for what they are, the film works very well.
I saw von Donnersmarck interviewed (in English) and was surprised at his American accent - evidently he lived in New York for part of his childhood. I recently saw "Downfall" (Untergang) and "Head-On" (Gegen Die Wand), which were also excellent movies. I'm glad to see that German films are achieving international recognition.