The Lives of Others

Watched an absolutely brilliant German movie over the weekend... winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film... Click here to check out the trailer.

Set in the early 80s in GDR (or East Germany), it's about how the government (otherwise known as a facist regime) prided itself on knowing everything. It hones down on this one surveillance specialist identified as HGW XX/7 who is employed by the Stasi (or state police) to expose an artist who is conisdered potentially subversive. The plot revolves around the life of the artist and how that influences this striaght-jacketed-oh-so-loyal-to-the-establishment man.

Yet another example of how socialism as a political system DOES NOT WORK. Loved the film though!