The Lives Of Others

In my German Literature class we watched a movie called "The Lives of Others". The whole movie really reminded me of 1984, how the government can completely control the lives of the people. This movie takes place in East Berlin in 1984 where an officer of the secret police, the Statsis, monitors a man and his girlfriend. The party is suspicious of the man and thinks he is against the party. The man, George, is a well-known writer and his girl-friend, Christa-Maria, is a very famous actress. While they are out one day, this officer and about 10 members of the party go into the apartment and put microphones behind every light outlet. They also set up cameras outside the building so they can see when they enter and exit their apartment. The party stations themselves in the attic of the apartment and listen to every single thing that is said in the apartment. The writer believes his apartment is safe so he holds all of the meetings with his fellow friends about secrets they know and say names of members who are also against the party. This whole movie fits so well with 1984 and how people literally had no freedom and even those who thought they did certainly did not. The party knew everything about everyone.