Lives of Others

'Tis the season for foreign films. Another subtitled movie comes down the pipeline to kick butt on anything we Americans could produce this season (except, of course, Dreamgirls, my fave). Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, Lives of Others had me in deep thought from the moment I left the theater. You know it's a good one when the 'ol gerbil can't hop off the wheel. Just prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany was all about spying on its citizens. So paranoid of subversive, anti-communist behavior, the secret police (Stasi) wiretapped everyone. And it's a good cover when you want to spy on a seemingly loyal playwright to get to his hot girlfriend. And that's just what the Stasi minister orders his lacky Gerd Wiesler to do. But the more Wiesler eavesdrops, the more he realizes how empty and lonely his life is and the more human he becomes. He becomes tangled in his subjects' lives to a tragic end. LOO surpasses the political thriller genre and drives home some universal societal fears. As the "war on terror" escalates how soon before our own freedoms, passions and ideals become silenced in the name of national security? This flick's a must-see.