Friday

The Lives of Others is an exceptional film. I'm not sure if my critical faculties are declining in contrast to the number of movies I see, since I seem to be liking everything at the moment, but this one definitely stands out. I might dare to say it's the best film I've seen this year, but then I have a very bad memory. For some reason I went into the cinema not wanting to like it. Due to its Oscar success it's been at theatres for a long time, and I've been delaying seeing it. I don't know why. Anyway, the plot is fairly simple, but it takes place in extraordinary circumstances (a bit like The Wind that Shakes the Barley): a bad man turns good. It's set during the last years of the socialist regime in East Germany and involves the State Security, or Stasi, and their surveillance of a playwright and his girlfriend. Very soon you realise the film also works as a commentary on us as audience, voyeurs ourselves. It gets even more interesting, then, when the man in charge of the surveillance starts interfering in their lives instead of just watching. The stylistics are limited, to my eye, but there was at least one brilliant camera movement that seemed to painfully drag you round a room as the words of one character sought out another. The music was good. And the ending was one of the most satisfying conclusions to a film I've ever seen. I thought the epilogue was at first unnecessary, but it has a remarkable turn to finish with. You'll either cry or cheer. Well, I did.