# The Lives of Others

8 Hacker News commenters recommended The Lives of Others and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a historically grounded film that gives a clear picture of Stasi surveillance in East Germany, and as an underrated movie with strong scenes. No critical comments appeared.

## Why people recommend it

- Historically grounded portrait of the Stasi (2 comments): "should give folks a pretty good idea of what the Stasi was" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46663896)) "Fiction, but historically grounded." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49253157))
- Underrated, with great scenes (2 comments): "The Lives of Others is a seriously underrated movie. I highly suggest watching it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697252)) "There's a great scene in The Lives of Others" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48693954))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Shawshank Redemption](https://hackerapproved.com/p/shawshank-redemption.md): 18 recommend
- [Good Will Hunting](https://hackerapproved.com/p/good-will-hunting.md): 10 recommend
- [Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stalker.md): 9 recommend
- [Margin Call](https://hackerapproved.com/p/margin-call.md): 7 recommend
- [Fight Club (1999 film)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fight-club.md): 7 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Lives of Others", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lives-of-others/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).