Leben der Anderen, Das (The Lives of Others)

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2007)

Best film I have seen in years. It deserved to win Best Picture and not just Best Foreign Film at this year's Academy Awards.
Beautifully written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who deserves to get as much, if not more, credit that the actors, who were all quite good.
Despite the initially depressing setting of Eastern Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, this is ultimately a life-affirming movie.
I would be loathe to review any of the plot details, because it is the way in which the story unfolds that makes it so incredibly beautiful.