The Lives of Others

I didn't know movies could be this good.

Wonderful film. Quiet, Moving and very touching. The film does not judge socialism or socialists, but instead portrays a man slowly losing his faith in the ideology because of the selfishness and corruption of others. The other lives of the title are not just the people he watches (who play a smaller part in his conversion than is initially obvious) but also his fellow comrades who think only of their own lives and not of others - which goes against everything he holds socialism to be.

Wonderful movie. One of the best films I have ever watched. Ulrich Mühe's performance is just too good. This is an honest movie about a very dark period in Germany's history. What a piece of work. Everyone should watch this film.

An East German interrogation officer takes charge of surveilling a playwright, and is slowly turned against his own government by observing the suffering of this innocent man. He is further disillusioned by the corruption of Communist Party bosses who abuse their power in many little tyrannies as well as great ones. He realizes they are not the true believers in the socialist cause that he is; or at least once was.

This is a touching film about a people who live in a culture of betrayal, yet transcend it through their own noble acts.