The Wall

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2014)

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police (Ulrich Mühe), conducting surveillance on a writer (Sebastian Koch) and his lover (Martina Gedeck), finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Apparently, this was one of the first post-Berlin Wall films to be a drama rather than a comedy (such as Wolfgang Becker's "Good Bye, Lenin!"). Certainly the best, if not the first. Today it is somewhat hard to imagine that not long ago Germany was split, with two sides spying on each other, when they were really one people under two governments.
Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, describing it as "a powerful but quiet film, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires." Very esoteric, Roger. There is certainly much more going on than is openly expressed in the film.