The Lives of Others

Here's a highly recommended German film. It's 2006's, The Lives of Others.

It's set in 1984 East Berlin -where Politics means keeping an eye on potential dissenters and incarcerating the nonconformists - a meticulous, by-the-book Stasi (East German [GDR] secret police) agent is given a high-level assignment to spy on a local playwright and his lover. And to paraphrase the Netflix synopsis: none of their lives are ever the same again.

This may be the best debut drama by a first-time writer/director since John Singleton's Boyz in the Hood.

But the comparisons stop there. Whereas Singleton uses a sledgehammer in Boyz, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck uses a paint brush in Lives.

I keep reading reviews of this movie that use the term, "deeply nuanced". And I can't come up with a better way to put it.

In a dvd extra, Florian briefly talks a little of the research he did to write the screenplay - a year and a half worth. He talked about the roller coaster ride of personally interviewing people who had their lives ruined by the secret police and the next day interviewing a ex-Stasi agent who, with some pride, recounted his accomplishments.

Florian puts this roller coaster into the movie. I knew it's set in the GDR, but I kept guessing which way the movie would take me. This is why Lives is also listed, aptly, as a thriller.

Not only is this movie well written and direct, I give extra special credit to the acting (subtle, sincere, and effective) and art direction (I've never seen the GDR look so authentic).

I really enjoyed this movie. I think you will too.