Monday, July 22, 2013

The Lives of Others - 2006


Chandler - 7/22/13

The Lives of Others is a German film about the secret police (the Stasi) in East Berlin. One of the many tasks of the Stasi was to spy on citizens in order to protect the socialistic society. You know... you can't have people defecting to West Berlin or talking shit about Socialism.

But the biggest flaw of an oppressive government is human nature, both good/caring and bad/evil. The more you spy on someone, the more trapped you become in their world.

The movie has a lot of interesting characters and does try to humanize a group of arguably evil people (much like Downfall did with Hitler). It's a pretty good plot that accomplishes a lot with very little, regardless of how historically accurate it may be.

It may not be based on a specific true story, but the window into Eastern Germany life is fascinating. Good movie that I'm rating high because my expectations were so low.

Rating - 3

Monday, July 8, 2013

The Queen - 2006


Chandler - 7/8/13

Judging a book by it's cover, this movie appeared quite boring and stuffy in the usual British way. But The Queen was entertaining. Helen Mirren did an outstanding job as Queen Elizabeth II, and there's some great insight into the days following Princess Diana's death.

I can't really say I paid much attention to the ordeal back in 1997, so the film was interesting. Now all they need to do is make a movie about Diana whoring around. Oh wait... that's in post-production.

Rating - 2