Review of The Lives of Others (2006) by Nicky W — 18 Feb 2012

A film with everything: natural, honest intrigue; freedom of speech questions; a heart-rending love story; a spooky soundtrack; fantastic acting (by Ulrich Muhe), and more. The tension is high from the beginning, and it comes from the institutionalized paranoia that comes with the main character's task: spying and reporting on a writer who, though he's long been a friend to the state, may finally have a reason to go West and speak out.

So much comes together in the end of this film, and you won't mind its flashes forward as it wraps up: they're really the only way out. The film is so deep in its moment, you forget that there is a way out, that a society need not operate this way, with surveillance and secret police and what not.

An excellent period piece that's essential viewing, one of the best European films I've ever seen.