The Lives of Others
Ranked 4 of 8 drama films by recommenders
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.
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.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Historically grounded portrait of the Stasi
“should give folks a pretty good idea of what the Stasi was”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “East Germany balloon escape” “Fiction, but historically grounded.”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Flock Cameras Can Track Every Car in America. Police Love Them. Citizens Don't” Underrated, with great scenes
“The Lives of Others is a seriously underrated movie. I highly suggest watching it.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “We Can Still Stop California's 3D Printer Surveillance Scheme” “There's a great scene in The Lives of Others”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “We Can Still Stop California's 3D Printer Surveillance Scheme”
Other drama films people recommend
The four most recommended other drama films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Shawshank Redemption | 18 | 8 | 69% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Good Will Hunting | 10 | 5 | 67% | 3 | — | — |
| Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky | 9 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | — |
| The Lives of OthersThis page | 8 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| Margin Call | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Fiction, but historically grounded.”
“The Lives of Others is a seriously underrated movie. I highly suggest watching it.”
“There's a great scene in The Lives of Others”
“Here's a random movie recommendation that has nothing at all to do with the above comment”
“The movie Das Lieben der Anderen makes this point very cogently.”
“should give folks a pretty good idea of what the Stasi was”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.