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Product Information

In East Berlin in 1984, the secret police, known as the Stasi, are gaining more and more control, spying on German citizens, and recruiting thousands of them to spy on each other. Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) has been ordered to find something on playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), so he sets up a surveillance room and listens closely as Dreyman, his actress girlfriend, Christa-Marie Sieland (Martina Gedeck), and various suspected radical friends gather in their apartment. But when Wiesler discovers that culture minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) cast suspicion on Dreyman only so he can have his way with Sieland, the master interrogator and torture teacher starts taking a long look at just what it all is about. THE LIVES OF OTHERS, co-written and directed by first-timer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is a tense, compelling thriller about a critical time in German history. Muhe is mesmerising as the complicated Wiesler, a loyal soldier until he learns too much. The wildly talented Koch is outstanding as Dreyman, a man with a lot to say but desperate to avoid the same fate as his mentor, theatre director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert). Inspired by actual events and real characters, THE LIVES OF OTHERS was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007. Interestingly, during and after the filming of the movie, several of the actors (including Muhe) found out that they or their families had been victims of the Stasi--and in one case, the father of an actor (Charly Hubner) was revealed to have been a member of the Stasi himself.

Product Identifiers

ProducerQuirin Berg, Max Wiedemann

EAN5060052412270

eBay Product ID (ePID)59954034

Product Key Features

ActorUlrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Muehe, Mathias Brenner, Volkmar Kleinert, Hans Bauer, Martina Gedeck

Film/TV TitleThe Lives of Others

DirectorFlorian Henckel Von Donnersmarck

LanguageGerman

Subtitle LanguageEnglish

Run Time132 Mins

Aspect Ratio16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen

Release Year2007

FormatDVD

FeaturesExtended and deleted scenes with optional director?s commentary\Cast and crew interviews\Making of\Original Stasi devices gallery\Audio commentary by director Florian Hanckel von Donnersmarck, Widescreen, Closed Caption, With Subtitles

GenreDrama, General

Additional Product Features

Number of Discs1

Certificate15

Country/Region of ManufactureGermany

Hearing ImpairedEnglish

ComposerGabriel Yared, Stephane Moucha

AwardsBest Foreign Film 2007 -, Best Foreign Language Film 2008 -

ReviewsFilm Review - A masterpiece, The Guardian - The best film of the year, Premiere - A remarkably engrossing thriller concerning the very intimate surveillance that was the bread and butter of the East German secret police in the bad old days of the Cold War, Rolling Stone - Von Donnersmarck has crafted the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head, Total Film - An outstanding thriller

ScreenwriterFlorian Henckel Von Donnersmarck

Format DescriptionDVD 9

Sound sourceDolby Digital 5.1

Movie/TV TitleThe Lives Of Others

Director of PhotographyHagen Bogdanski

Consumer AdviceContains strong sex