Review – The Lives of Others

Here’s a rare piece of cinema in the 21st century: a film that works on more than one level. As a straightforward – if fictionalized – account of how the secret police operated in East Germany in the 1980s, this works quite well. But it gets even better when the protagonist – one of the Stazi’s best surveillance guys – spends so long spying on a playwright that he begins to empathize with his victim. The result is a fascinating exploration of both state control and the emotional qualities of voyeurism. This production definitely rewards the effort required to read the subtitles. Worth seeing