The Lives of Others

I honestly hadn't heard anything about this film until about three weeks ago. It was at a local theater for a week. I contemplated seeing it at that time, but my brother and I opted to see another film (his call). Fortunately, I saw that it was to come to video shortly after. I did some research and saw the mostly great reviews by critics and I even saw that it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006. After seeing this film on Saturday night, I can understand why.

It takes place in 1984, where the Stasi (Secret Police) in Germany have most of East Germany under heavy surveillance except for a few privileged individuals, one of whom is author Georg Dreyman. But, once a key authority figure garners an interest in Dreyman's girlfriend, he too unknowlingly goes under surveillance. Following a dear friend of Dreyman's suicide, a director who was blacklisted several years prior, Dryman, under a false name, decides to write an article about the untracked suicides of Germany and how, next to Hungary, Germany led all of Europe in suicide rate. This infuriates the East German authorities and they want the individual(s) responsible for the article to be brought to justice. This is where I stop with the synopsis, because I don't want to spoil anything for readers. But, following these event is when things get very interesting. Since Dreyman is under surveillance, how will he get away with being the responsible individual of the article? Does anyone switch sides? Have a change of heart? Does the article itself have an effect on the people at large and their view of what's transpiring in their country?

The Lives of Others is one of three, count them, three films that has sucked me in to such an extent, that I'm left utterly speechless, with goosebumps, and constant shivers running up and down my spine and the rest of my body as the end credits roll off the screen. The acting was fantastic. The plot and storyline were intriguing, with every event playing some vital role in the overall picture. The dialogue was intelligent and enticing. The music was almost haunting at times. The direction, the editing, the cinematography, were all solid, to say the least. Even the character development was better than most films I've seen. From start to finish, my eyes were glued to the screen, my mind in a rapid function, and my emotions drawn to the story and characters. It was a movie-going experience that I'll never forget. I've only had this strong a reaction with two other films, "American Beauty" and the Swedish film, "Songs From the Second Floor". As I did with those two films, the only two times I had done such a thing until now, I award this with a perfect score. I'm not one to goto such extreme lengths very frequently. I've viewed hundeds, thousands of movies in my lifetime and this is only the third time I've graded a film in such a superior manner. While no film may be "perfect," I feel that this is about as close as it gets.
Overall Grade: 10/10