The Lives Of Others September 21, 2007

$5 film/ $50 season

The Lives of Others Dir. Florian von Donnersmarck, Ger, 2006, 137 min, R

This first feature of Donnersmarck starts in 1984, in East Berlin. A successful playwright and his girlfriend who have been trusted by the state, are placed under Stasi surveillance. Their investigator, a lonely ascetic by the name of Wiesler, is told to entrap them, instead of which, little by little, he lets them off the hook. Given the movie’s cross-weave of envy, paranoia, and endangered principle, the director might have been expected to tie himself in knots; yet the outcome remains taut and clear. This Oscar-winning film is an intricate and deeply satisfying movie, a tightly plotted tale of both state surveillance and personal betrayal that ultimately becomes an ode to the transformative power of art. The acting is superb as is the music and the closing moment is so perfect that it will stay with you long after the closing credits.

In German with English subtitles.

Official Website: http://www.flics.org