I don’t like to watch movies dubbed in German and what more German movies made in Germany. However the skeptical me will still give a movie a chance no matter in what language it is in or where its origin is as long as it is really worth watching.

One of those very good German movies is The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) which garnered an Oscar in 2007 as the Best Foreign Language Film. If you still remember your history class lessons well, you’ll recall that Germany has a battered past as a result of those world wars which left this country bitterly divided into East and West Germany.

The storyline is simple yet the portrayal and the meaning passed on is poignantly profound. The story takes place in East Germany back in 1984, where it was still ruled by the then socialist state GDR (German Democratic Republic), but the system operated more like a communist state. The suffering and desperation of its citizens living under the regime were deftly captured in the film.

Back in GDR, it was not a secret that the state often placed surveillance on individuals, usually businessmen, prominent writers and directors or anyone suspected to be pro-Western. The story unfolds from the viewpoint of this secret agent, who was assigned to spy on a playwright, suspected of dissidence.

Forget about dagger chase and fast-paced actions usually delivered by a conventional spy film. In fact, there aren’t any fast-paced action scenes at all. The most commendable feature of this film is the performance of its actors and the brilliant camerawork and setting which created a subdued, semi-black-and-white environment to emphasize the oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere behind the wall.

I love the ending of the film. Unexpected, bittersweet with a perfect touch of pensiveness. One of the best German film I’ve ever watched and notably a very outstanding one.