The Lives of Others - or the movie that beat Pan's Labyrinth at the Oscars

A Quick (Kinda) Review

The Lives of Others beat out Pan's Labyrinth at the Oscars. Most people seemed shocked, especially since Pan's Labyrinth was one of those rare foreign language films that more than 10 people saw. Was I surprised? Not really, cause buzz had been building for The Lives of Others over the slightly overated Pan's Labyrinth (it was REALLY good but had its flaws still).

I finally saw The Lives of Others this weekend and in my opinion, did it deserve the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film?

A big resounding YES... or actually, in the spirit of the movie, I need a slow build up to the yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. It's not a showy film (like Pan's) but it has quite a haunting aftertaste.


Anyways, I won't go to much into it cause the less you know about the movie the better but definitely see it. In fact, I had to re-jig my Best of Movies list for 2006 (Read my mini blurb review in the Best of Movie List). That's saying a lot cause I'm lazy and I didn't want to change it around. (It now falls in 4th place bumping The Queen and everything else one spot back).

Of course, see it before they ruin it by making an American remake (already in the works by the Weinsteins (hmm maybe) and Sydney Pollack (oh no, hasn't made anything good lately) for a 2010 release).

The Lives of Others - 9/10 or A-