Foreign Film: The Lives of Others

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this intense drama is set in East Berlin in 1984 and focuses on a special officer on the secret Stasi police force who spies on a playwright and his actress partner, suspecting them of anti-state activities. His surveillance leads to a fascination with their daily lives that affects him in unexpected ways. Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck and Ulrich Muhler star. 137 min. 2006. In German with English subtitles. R (Sexual situations, nudity, violence.) No registration required.