Sunday, January 06, 2008

The Lives of Others

We saw this incredible German film two nights ago, and I have been thinking about it ever since.

Ultimately, it was a film with a kind of redemption that I could live with - the kind that didn't make me throw my hands up in the air and run screaming from the room. The other work that makes me feel this way is the BBC production of the Singing Detective.

I found the film's pitting of restraint versus desire, morality versus immorality, comfort versus loneliness, and power versus powerlessness in a backdrop of total fear and paranoia, arresting.

I knew I had to see the film when I read Anthony Lane's ecstatic review in the New Yorker.

The late Ulrich Muhe's work in this film breaks my heart.

Matt noticed that no one ever raises their voice in the film.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

D and I saw this film some time last year and loved it too!

I am surprised it has taken so long to get to the US, but maybe I shouldn't be.

Tomatohead said...

Nah, we're just late bloomers and just got the DVD. It won last year's Best Foreign Film Oscar, deservedly so.

Hope you are feeling pretty OK!