The Lives of Others (2006): In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

This movie won the Oscar for foreign movie, beating out Pan’s Labyrinth, so I definitely wanted to check it out. I still prefer Pan’s, but this is a solid movie.

Wiesler was very scary at the beginning, a trained interrogator and spy. I was actually fascinated by what he teaches his class.

Once he crosses paths with Dreyman and Christa he changes fundamentally. I am not sure exactly why, and that’s my biggest problem with this movie. I think I am supposed to think that art and these artists’ passion for each other changed him.

However I didn’t see much of the art itself, we just see a few parts of the play, certainly not enough to appreciate it. As for the two lovers, I can see that he might have been touched by them and wanted to help them any way he could, but at his own life’s expense?

This love story is heartbreaking, living in an oppressed regime is very difficult, especially when you’re an artist and want to express your opinions. There is the conflict between surviving and love.

This film worked both on the emotional/love story level, and on the thriller level. The way the Stasi spies on these artists, and they way they interrogate them is interesting.

Definitely a good movie, but for me it was a little overrated.

Rating: 3.5 Stars