The Lives of Others (2006)

Superlative German film about a Stasi agent charged with surveilling an East Berlin apartment in the 1980s who starts to protect its residents instead. I still remember seeing this and Pan’s Labyrinth a few months apart in the spring of 2006 and being completely blown away by both, and the Oscars matchup between those two for Best Foreign Language Film was on par with the one between No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood for Best Picture the a year later. (TBH I still kind of think There Will Be Blood should’ve won, and I say that as a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy, the Coens in general, and No Country for Old Men in particular. But it was probably correct that The Lives of Others edged out Pan’s Labyrinth, and I also say that as a huge fan of Pan’s Labyrinth.)