The Lives of Others

After seeing a German movie win the oscar for 'best foreign movie' last weekend, I happened to see today that the film is playing at Landmark Theater right around the corner from me (LOVE that theater!!). As a German, I felt obligated to see this movie, because German movies do not tend to make it so big that they are shown in theaters in Chicago. Or anywhere outside of Germany for that matter. The most noteable German movies of recent times (that are also usually available at your local blockbuster) are The Priness and the Warrior, Goodbye Lenin, and Run Lola Run. Rent them sometime.
This movie is called "The Lives of others" and shows how the Stasi monitored the lives of the East Germans. And let me tell you, it is scary to see how much control a government can have, and how they can monitor your every move! And even more disturbing is that this movie is based on true historical events. The movie itself seems to focus on an artist couple, but more acurately, it focuses on the guy who is assigned to monitor them. The purposely unnoticable guy in grey, who isn't able to stay detached from the situation of the people he is monitoring, and as a result has a life changing experience. I don't want to say too much more, in case you want to go see it. The movie is great, and definitely worth seeing!! If you're not too bothered by subtitles, go see it! And if you are bothered by subtitles... get over it and go see it anyway!