The films nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar feature locales spanning the globe. They include India (by way of Canada), Morocco, Spain, Denmark, and Germany.

The nominated German film, of course, is The Lives Of Others, a crackling intrigue set in mid-1980s East Berlin. Lives takes as its focus the East German Stasi, the covert intelligence unit that spied on critics of the government. The film follows the obsession of one Stasi operative (Ulrich Mühe) who watches every move of a prominent playwright (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck).

One pleasure of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut film is its usage of several locales in Berlin. The main characters live in Friedrichshain, around Frankfurter-Tor. The famous Hebbel Theatre—where the playwright debuts his latest work—is prominently featured.

Scattered throughout are shots of the gray buildings of Karl-Marx-Allee and, much later, shops along Ku’damm. The stark Soviet War Memorial (Schönholzer Heide) in Pankow sees a pivotal liaison between the lead character and a West German contact.

The most eye-opening scenes transpire on the film’s primary set, the Stasi headquarters and prison. Turned into the Stasi Museum following the collapse of East Germany, these rooms are a perfect place to catch a chilling glimpse of life under strict paranoia. At the museum, visitors learn about actual interrogation techniques as well as the last days of the Stasi.

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