"The Lives of Others." Overrated.

Films/DVD Asylum

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First off, overlong to the point where there was no suspense. But there wouldn't have been much suspense anyway because it was pretty clear what was going to happen waaaay before it occurred.
Sophie Scholl: easy target, the Nazis.
LOO: easy target, the feared and hated STASI.
The central figures, the writer and his wife, were adequate but, with so much riding on their roles, it wasn't enough to carry the film: they merely were adequate.
The only standout performance was the master interrogator/investigator: his performance was nuanced and powerful.
Films in which SPOILER the watcher "falls" for the targets, a variant of the Stockholm Syndrome I guess, aren't rare.
One desperately wants to like this film and Sophie Scholl. After all, they're attacking brutal, vicious, and repressive governments which dominated much of Europe for decades.
But through their trite stories, lack of suspense, and limited horror (compared to the Nazi as portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List," for example), we're left with bland political films which do nothing to enlighten us about the true horrors.

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Topic - "The Lives of Others." Overrated. - tinear 16:12:18 03/16/07 (1)

Agreed but still worthwhile - Daryl Zero 00:17:04 03/18/07 (0)

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