I don’t often write about movies on the Urban Mainframe. That’s odd in itself because I watch a lot of them and consider myself to be something of a movie buff. Having said that, my movie collection, I suspect, is that of a typical bloke. There’s lots of war, action, sci-fi and adventure films. There’s not a lot of drama. There’s only one or two “chick flicks” (oh come on, who doesn’t love Ghost?)

My collection is that of someone who doesn’t demand too much, intellectually, from his entertainment. I watch films to escape for an hour and a half — to be James Bond, Neo or Luke Skywalker. I don’t want to have to think too much when I watch a movie, I just want my imagination stimulated and the day-to-day tedium of life to be replaced with beautiful women, fast cars and lots and lots of explosions and gunfire.

You can probably appreciate then that, on being given for Christmas a sub-titled film with a dialogue spoken entirely in German, I wasn’t exactly filled with delight and anticipation. However, and to my great surprise, The Lives of Others turned out to be one of those rarest of films — one that captures the viewer’s attention from the moment it starts and holds it in a vice-like grip until the final credits roll.

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