I saw "Das Leben der Anderen-2 ("Lives of Others") too and I agree it was excellent. It was so convincing to see the frighteningly scrupulous Stasi guy was sincere in his beliefs. He was a sort of Robespierre - incorruptable, yet capable of causing untold misery. You hate him at the beginning and come out of it respecting his integrity two hours later. That's a clever film.
There are some German films around at the moment, which are dealing with their big issues very sensitively and intelligently.
We went to see "The Baader Meinhof Complex" on Friday, which was every bit as good at Neil Ascherson described it in his Guardian review. It is a believable and unsentimental telling of the story of the terrorist group (and it's successors), which wreaked carnage in Germany in the seventies and early eighties. I believe the makers tried very hard to be objective in the way they told the story. Nobody was made to look a complete monster, although it would take a special person to like a lout like Andreas Baader. Sadly, a lot of facts about that series of catastrophes are never likely to emerge, but the makers showed admirable restraint.