The Lives of Others (15)

Thursday 13th November 2008
Florian Henckel von Donnresmarck 2006 - 138 mins
Germany
Language: German

A chilling film that is at once a political thriller and a human drama.  East Berlin, 1984, and Captain Weisler, a Stasi officer, is assigned to listen in on the life of a playwright and his wife and collect any evidence of anti state activity.

Score:    99.24%

Some members' comments:

"Best film for ages; best film this season; best film ever;
superb, excellent; wonderful" - all come up over and over again.
Deeply moving study of relationships and ideals.
The most profound line "and to think people like you ran a country".
Very real - excellent acting - powerful writing.
Having been in E Berlin before the wall came down it reminded me how terrible things were.
An emotional rollercoaster.  Good to see optimistic finale.
Are we going the same way?
Stunning indictment of socialism.