 A film in three minutes, the lives of others. Ever get the feeling you're being watched very closely, by unseen forces? What if you had the perfect life but somehow somewhere you knew that your supposed privacy was really just an illusion? Would you try to ignore it and carry on? Or would the temptation to seek out who was listening to your most intimate thoughts be too great? And what if the person spying on you this whole time became so involved in your life that they ended up acting as your guardian angel without you ever realising? Directed by Florian Henkel von Donnersmark, the lives of others or Das Leben der Anderen is one of the most remarkable dramas of German cinema in living memory and was the winner of the best foreign film Oscar at the 2007 Academy Awards. Its story set aptly in 1984 during the fading days of the East German communist state revolves around secret police or Stasi agent Wiesler, played by Ulrich Mühe, who is ordered to spy on successful playwright Dreiman, played by Sebastian Koch, after he is suspected of subversive activities. However, the all-encompassing surveillance of Dreiman and his partner begins to alter Wiesler's loyalties after he realises that state corruption is behind the motive for the investigation, prompting him to risk his entire career by involving himself personally in their lives. Upon release the film was hailed by critics and audiences as a masterpiece but it has since gained new residence after the whistle-blowing activities of Edward Snowden and the revelations of mass surveillance at the hands of nation states. The Stasi's methods and operating tactics, down to the exact equipment that was used at the time, was carefully depicted for complete authenticity, with many of the props borrowed from museums and private collectors at the insistence of the props master who had himself spent two years in the Stasi prison. The themes of secrecy, privacy and fear permeate every scene in this oppressive world where even the slightest questioning of authority can lead to grave consequences. This is why the performance of Muher is so mesmerising as his cold, expressionless posturing isn't just for the effect of us the audience but for his own audience within the film. Unable to reveal anything to his colleagues and lacking totally in friendship, his controlled quiet demeanor is as chilling as it is somber and is sadly made all the more memorable by the actors tragic death one year after the film's release. Although the events in the film are more on the side of fantasy than reality, the brutal irony of the German Democratic Republic was that in order for the state to control every aspect of people's lives, it's therefore had to employ half of the population to inform on the other half, which in turn created a culture of fear and repression that led to an inevitable system collapse. Now with the reunification of Germany, the acts of the Stasi seem like a distant memory, but the lives of others is still as relevant today as the time period it recreates, reminding us all of the hidden value our privacy implies and the lengths of us will go to take it away from us.