Walking in to see the German film "The Lives of Others" -- now out on DVD -- a few months ago, a friend noted that he might need to leave early to get to an appointment and quipped, "we know how it ends anyway, don't we? The wall comes down."

Well, sort of.

It's no spoiler for me to point out that the wall does come down in this 2:15 film -- written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck -- about a playwright and his leading lady who get caught in a web of secret police intrigue in East Berlin in the late 1980s.

Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is a tough as nails Stasi interrogator, who educates young recruits in interrogation techniques. His friend Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) in attempt to suck up to government minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) agrees to dig into the background of respected and presumed loyal playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch).

Grubitz entrusts the wiring of Dreyman's apartment to Wiesler, who sets up a listening station in the attic of Dreyman's building. He soon learns, as do we, that Hempf is hoping to dig up dirt on the writer to "eliminate a rival" for the affections of actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), Dreyman's live-in lover.

But despite the dubiousness of the investigation, Dreyman isn't really above suspicion, thanks to his often-outspoken, rebellious writer and director friends. One of them, in fact, has been blacklisted for his views and hasn't worked in a decade.

But Dreyman and Sieland know how the game works and do their utmost to appear loyal to the state. When a friend dies, everything changes for Dreyman and he's compelled to take a stand.

This epiphany takes place at the same time as his investigator Wiesler begins to make a few realizations of his own about his job and his government. And from their point on their stories become entirely entwined – although Dreyman doesn't know it.

Therefore, Dreyman thinks his reputation of loyalty will protect him and that the people around him are trusted confidants.

At some point the wall does indeed come down, but not until too late for some of these characters. And the fall of the wall isn't the end of the story in "The Lives of Others," which is a compelling tale of the abuse of power, of human redemption and of how self-preservation affects human behavior. To say nothing of the ways endemic secrecy, mistrust and fear can rule people's lives.

There's nary a duff performance here and the script is compelling despite some facets – like Sieland's illicit drug use – that seem a bit over the top.