Review: "The Lives of Others

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2009)

I went into this one with high hopes, and the 2007 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film does not disappoint. Normally, the winners in the Best Foreign Film category do not excite me as much as this one did, but the fact that it beat out El Laberinto del Fauno (or, Pan's Labyrinth), which I would place in my top twenty-five films of all time, that particular year, I figured this German piece had to be good. The acting all-around is phenomenal, from Thieme's small role as the person you could consider the villain to Mühe, the agent who completely changes his own livelihood as a result of listening in on this writer and his life. Now, I don't want to say too much for fear of giving away the whole point of the story, but it really is a beautiful piece and the screenplay is fantastic. I empathized so much with certain characters that it would have been impossible to tear me away from the screen. What really makes this film, however, is the absence of any real resolution until the final scene. It keeps the viewer with a wide range of jumbled emotions concerning the events that have taken place, but the very last scene of the film makes it all worth it. It even brought a tear to my eye. Truly a beautiful film that's definitely worth a watch.