The Lives of Others (2006 Movie)

The Lives of Others is a 2006 subtitled German drama that won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2007. Even though this film was created twenty years ago it can serve as a warning for the times in which we are currently living. The film is set in 1984, right before the fall of the German Democratic Republic. The main character, a Stasi agent, is ordered to spy on a successful playwright. Over time the agent becomes disgusted when he finds out the real reason behind the surveillance, resulting in a series of tragic events. The film is truly riveting, and I could not pry myself away from the screen despite the film’s 2+ hour length. The subtitles do not interfere with the narrative and the acting is superb. The film centers on an autocratic government’s need to know everything that goes on in the lives of its people to preserve its hold on power, and the possible consequences of government power taken to extremes. The brief end piece shows the post GDR lives of the main characters. There is a sense of lingering sorrow for all that went before that stays with you. This film serves as a warning against the abuses of autocracy and the lives that it destroys. Well worth the watch.

Reviewed by Jane Wolford