That movie is usually regarded as being one of the more accurate ones. E.g. Joachim Gauck (Germany's current president and former head of the Stasi Archives) said that save some inaccuracies many things are presented very well. [1]

Definitely worth watching!

[1] http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Leben_der_Anderen#Deutsche_...

I have a nerdish interest in the Stasi for reasons I can't quite explain. I've not seen the movie, but I'd recommend Stasiland:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasiland

as an account of various people who lived under the Stasi. Also, The File:

http://www.amazon.com/The-File-A-Personal-History/dp/0679777...

The (again, factual) story of someone uncovering their own file and researching its history.

[trying to say without spoilers]

the inaccurate/ridiculous part is that he couldn't do what he did because every one of them had another agent(s) on them precisely to prevent such occurences. they spied on and controlled each other just like they did on citizens. other than that - great movie, and depiction of the strong influence such agencies had on personal lives (to make someone or destroy someone) is accurate.

you can also check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_%282012_film%29 with a bit similar theme.

My understanding was the only reason what he did worked was because the whole thing was winding down. 2 years prior and things wouldn't have worked out so well at all.

There were thaw periods around the countries of the block and agencies sometimes tended to chill out a bit with their activites, but on the other hand on Berlin's memorials you can find people whose deaths are dated even just a few months before the falling of the wall, so I don't know, to be honest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others#Reception

Slavoj Žižek, reviewing the film for In These Times, criticized the film's perceived softpedaling of the oppressiveness of the German Democratic Republic, as well as structure of the playwright's character, which he thought was not very likely under a hard communist regime.[23] Anna Funder, the author of the book Stasiland, in a review for The Guardian called The Lives of Others a "superb film" despite not being true to reality. She claims that it was not possible for a Stasi operative to have hidden information from superiors because Stasi employees themselves were watched and almost always operated in teams

Probably not very accurate (just because most movies aren't, anyway). But I think most of the cast actually lived through the GDR years (in the GDR), and I figure that's how they acted so damn well.

To anyone considering watching this, if not for the history, watch it for the movie's sake. You will not be disappointed at all.

very imaginable