This film is very strong; after seeing both, I'd say Pan's Labyrinth probably doesn't stand a chance at the Oscars, despite getting almost impossibly high praise from critics. (I haven't yet seen Indigènes.)

Goodness, as a subject for art, risks falling prey to piety and wishful thinking, but “The Lives of Others,” one of the nominees for this year’s best foreign-language film Oscar, never sacrifices clarity for easy feeling. Posing a stark, difficult question — how does a good man act in circumstances that seem to rule out the very possibility of decent behavior? — it illuminates not only a shadowy period in recent German history, but also the moral no man’s land where base impulses and high principles converge.

I didn't read this article until afterward, and I'm glad, because I feel like Scott's review gives too much away in an effort to convince you to go see the film (or perhaps on the assumption that you won't, anyway, so it's no danger). Other positive reviews are from filmcritic and TV Guide.