| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A+ |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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Chillingly real and honest
by Roxana (movies profile)
Jun 13, 2008
97
of
98 people found this review helpful
Being born in one of the East Europe communist countries, I was curious to see a movie about the secret service political spying and meddling into the lives of ordinary citizens.
The story is masterfully developed and underlines the cruelty, the utter hypocrisy and the corruption of the communist regimes. The subject is a sensitive one, because in this case the people subjected to the spying are artists, people who, by their profession, have a moral duty towards the freedom of speech, who need to be free in order to reach their potential.
The characters are extremely well depicted, are touching and human, with fears, hopes and insecurities old as the mankind. There is the successful and politically correct playwriter whose creativity is stimulated by an eternal optimism and faith in people's humanity; he is in love with a beautiful and talented, but not so confident actress. There is also the Stasi officer who conducts an inquiry into the couple's life, inquiry caused more by lust (of a powerful politician for the beautiful actress) than by treason suspicions; the lonely Stasi officer who becomes less and less happy with his mission and starts to think about the consequences his spying could have in the life of the couple he somewhat envies.
The actors' performances are exceptional and convey with ease a large variety of feelings: insecurity, love, fear, deception, treason, hope, resignation, weaving them into a perfect web, into a perfect story.
This movie is a real gem and I recommend it to everyone for the accuracy of the facts and era portrayed, for the positive message it conveys, faith in human goodness. |
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