Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch
East Berlin, November 1984: Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. Party-loyalist Captain Gerd...( read more
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DVD Release Date: August 21, 2007
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Stats: 11,838 reviews
Flixster Reviews (11,838)
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October 1, 2009A fantastic film! Easily the best I?ve seen in a long time. Everything about this film is sublime, its perfect! The ending has to be in my top 10 best of all time. Highly recommended!
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May 31, 2009The greenish-hued images create the perfect mood for the film. The story is incredibly moving and the main cast is exceptional.
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March 1, 2009Writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck chose the perfect year to start his film, the Orwellian 1984, in the last gasps of the east german apparat.
Somber, deeply moving, full of anxiety and with an incredibly subtle and engaging performance by Ulrich Mühe. -
January 10, 2009I can't think of an espionage thriller that is more tense and well-balanced than this almost pitch perfect film from Germany.
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November 15, 2009Long time since I have seen such an excellent, brilliant acting. The cinematography is geniously made and the whole atmosphere in this great film makes it outstanding!!
SEE IT!!! -
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October 27, 2009an amazing film. the sadness expressed by every element of the movie is overwhelmingly powerful and the whole character of HGW XX/7 is developed so easily through his silence and the place where he lives. The best thing is the fact that the movie's ending keeps with the depressin...( read more)
Critic Reviews
September 21, 2007
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
July 11, 2007
Armond White, The New York Press
How surprising that a new German film would teach Americans about human faith at a time when acclaimed movies like Borat lack faith. full review
March 2, 2007
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
Its suspense builds on the fragile and nuanced business of emotional rebirth. full review
February 15, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
The exceptionally acted film, nominated for a foreign-language Oscar, is an incisive character study, a suspenseful paranoid thriller and a vivid recreation of recent history. full review
February 9, 2007
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
The Lives of Others is a supremely intelligent, unfailingly honest look at a shadowy period in recent German history.
February 5, 2007
David Edelstein, New York Magazine
A cunning piece of construction -- a Kafkaesque tearjerker, a tragic farce. full review
February 5, 2007
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
If there is any justice, this year's Academy Award for best foreign-language film will go to The Lives of Others, a movie about a world in which there is no justice. full review
January 25, 2007
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Von Donnersmarck has crafted the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head. full review
December 1, 2006
Pete Hammond, Maxim
A startling political thriller and the year's most urgent and important film, you owe it to yourself to see this beautifully written and directed movie. full review
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