The Lives of Others - A Movie Review

****1/2

This movie won the director the Oscar for the best foreign film last year and after seeing it I can understand why.

Set in 1984 in East Germany it follows the plight of a playwright who comes under surveillance by the state secret police - the Stasi. The film showcases a system rotten to the core where to quote George Orwell "all people are equal, but some are more equal than others". Despite the overbearing State prying on its citizens, some people manage to display goodwill to others, even those who are part of the Stasi. And what a great ending to the movie.

I came out of the movie thankful for the freedoms that we all enjoy in our society, and an admiration for those who were able to bring down the Berlin wall and disrobe the rotten communist system. Yes, a movie can sometime get you thinking like that!

To delve more into the Stasi read Anne Funders book ' Stasiland'. I remember reading ,I think in this book, that it was estimated that one in three persons in East Germany was involved in some way with spying on their fellow citizens. There are no 'good old days' in East Germany.