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