or officially titled: Das Leben der Anderen.
This is the best movie I’ve seen in a very long time. Definitely the best I’ve seen all year. The Lives of Others is a political thriller which takes place in the German Democratic Republic (G.D.R.), better known to most Americans as East Germany. The movie starts in 1984 (how appropriate for all the Orwellian fans) and has some of the best understated performances I’ve ever seen. The central characters include a handsome and affable writer named Georg Dreyman and his live-in lover, Christa-Maria who is an actress.
The movie starts with Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler conducting Big Brother business as usual, but as the plot unfolds, it becomes clear things are about to take an unexpected turn. I don’t want to write too much about the plot because the great thing about the movie is the way it slowly unfolds to reveal an unexpected hero.
Since I’m a cynic when it comes to movies, I researched a little about how the Stasi conducted surveillance and this movie seems to be very authentic in its recreation. In fact, the props master on the movie crew spent two years in a Stasi prison and insisted on complete authenticity in the movie. The props, for listening and recording, were borrowed from museums and collectors ~ all the props were actual Stasi equipment.
I was reluctant to add this to my Netflix queue because I thought it would be too depressing ~ really, the gray, cold slab buildings of the former East Germany are enough to make me sad BUT this movie was so worth the watch. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for an intelligent and different movie which will leave you enlightened and feeling good about humankind.
Let me know what you think of it.
PS The movie is in German but has English subtitles. Don’t let it dissuade you from watching the movie. The movie was so engrossing it didn’t bother me to read the subtitles and it gave me a chance to practice my extremely limited knowledge of the German language.