Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the East Germany government eavesdropped on many artists, writer, and other people to ensure that those people would not attack the government and cause opposition from the people. In "The Lives of Others", Captain Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe) was sent to monitor the conversation of Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a writer with connection to some government officials. As time went by, Wiesler found Dreyman to be a good man and began to protect Dreyman, while Dreyman was writer an article for a publisher in West Germany to attack the government. Wiesler was eventually punished for his deeds. Years later, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dreyman found out the protection offered by Wiesler, and thanked Wiesler in a special way.

The story is a touching one. I always admire characters like Captain Wiesler who place themselves in difficult positions for the sake of righteousness. The film reveals the dark side of the Communist government of East Germany, which suppressed the people in order to stabilize the country and the unstabilizable government. As history has proven, such way of ruling will never work. In this film, the idea is obvious.