Paperjam

The Lives Of Others

Film // Jim // 24th April 2007

SURVEILLANCE REPORT FROM OFFICER: WTF/69
Subject is codenamed “Mazlo”, plus known accomplice who is designated “CJA”.

TIME: 2PM
LOCATION: SOMEWHERE IN NORTH LONDON
Notes: Subjects observed moving toward underground station, Mazlo is looking slightly ill. The phrase “Hair of the dog” is heard several times (NOTE: check if this a known code-phrase), subjects study a map in what appears to be a confused manner and board public transport.

TIME: 2.20PM
LOCATION: HAMPSTEAD
Notes: The subjects seem to be using sophisticated anti surveillance techniques in an attempt to shake our tailing agents. Pretending to be lost and unsure as to where they are going in a most convincing manner. At one point they somehow double back on themselves twice, but we manage to retain contact.

(NOTE: Warning should be raised and security stepped up on TV entertainer R. Gervais as a result of intelligence gained)

TIME: 2.40PM
LOCATION: PRIVATE PROPERTY
Notes: In a desperate bid to escape detection the subjects head into an area of woodland. Using satellite reconnaissance we watch them stumble about for a bit before realising that they are about to emerge into someone’s garden and have to re-trace their steps, stumbling about even more. They re-emerge and normal surveillance is resumed, Mazlo is starting to walk with a slightly subversive looking limp, could this be a signal of some kind?

TIME: 3:30PM
LOCATION: THE ROEBUCK
Notes: Subjects enter underworld meeting place masquerading as a public house. CJA has some interaction with a linen suited crime lord near the bar but no hand-off appears to take place. They order food but judging by the amount that is left over this was a simply a rouse to get a message from the Algerian dissident that we know to be working in the kitchen. They try to hide the fact by deriding the meal as “More like a dog sandwich than a steak sandwich” and moaning about the “Soggy” nature of the chips. Could the dog references be related?

(NOTE: While dusting the scene for prints, agent WTF/57 later confirms that the chips were indeed soggy and that the sandwiches did have “a hint of Labrador about them”.)

TIME: 4:30PM
LOCATION: FREEMASONS ARMS
Notes: On the way to this next public house, CJA threatens some small children with physical violence, Mazlo laughs. My god, these people are sick.
On reaching the public house the team encounters agents WTF/86 and WTF/37 who are posing as a pair of annoying stockbroker’s children in order to keep tabs on the actor James Lance who is sitting in the garden looking a wee bit pleased with himself. The agents confirm that earlier he spent a lot of time shopping for mirrors, could these be for Morse code signalling purposes?
Our subjects have ordered alcoholic beverages and and discreetly leave some newspapers behind after drinking their beers. Strangely they seem somewhat energised, the newspapers are immediately impounded but yield no clues.

TIME: 5:30PM
LOCATION: EVERYMAN CINEMA CLUB
Notes: Subjects purchase more drinks and take up seats in the gallery section of the cinema. I personally volunteer for close range duties and take up a position on a nearby sofa, which is very comfortable indeed. In order to maintain strict and credible cover I use the call button on the nearby table to get some beers brought to me and, for the good of the cause, drink them.

The film being shown is The Lives Of Others, a German film about the role of the Stasi in the former East Germany. The plot outlines the tale of an intelligence officer detailed to spy on a possibly subversive writer and his actress girlfriend. As it becomes apparent that the surveillance is part of a sexual blackmail plot being carried out by a senior politician, the Stasi man starts to empathise with his subjects, leading to a tense and ultimately tragic set of events.
At the conclusion of the film we note the following comments from various patrons of the cinema, which will be forwarded to the dept for cultural intelligence for collation and analysis:
- Generally considered to be a good and thought provoking film.
- The actor playing the Stasi officer, was excellent in a role that required an unlikeable character to gain the audiences sympathy.
- Apparently there is a difference between “tits” and “boobs”. Although how this was in any way relevant we can’t begin to explain.
- Each scene of the film is shot in a muted style with subtle camera movements and restrained production design.
- It was a chilling insight into the workings of a country where suspicion and paranoia had become mainstream behaviour.

TIME: 8:30PM
LOCATION: WALKING TOWARDS WEST HAMPSTEAD
Notes: Eschewing public transport, the subjects take and obscure route through some supermarket car parks in order to reach West Hampstead. To maintain contact we are forced to send in officer WTF/97 disguised as a learner on a moped. She reported back that the following points about the film were being discussed:
- The main character had a very nice jacket indeed.
- The ending didn’t get too cheesy, but the red smudged fingerprint was a bit much.
- Could a dodgy looking East German truck really have reaped such devastating consequences?
- There were concerns about moments when the subtitles cut out at what may have been key bits of the plot.
- The bit in the back of the Volvo was just horrible.
- Despite the moaning the general impression was very favourable.
It is noted at this time that the surveillance team are starting to suspect that the subjects are in fact not a potential threat to national security, or in fact a threat to anything at all.

TIME: 9.15PM
LOCATION: SOME PUB OR OTHER
Notes: Oh I can’t be bothered any more, they went in, they sat outside, they had some drinks and they talked a load of cobblers. Blow this for a game of soldiers, I’m off home. Waste of time if you ask me. If these people spend ten minutes deciding whether to go to another pub or not I don’t think I am wildly out of line suggesting that organising armed insurrection might just be a touch beyond them.

The Links Of Others

Official Web Site

The usual; trailer, pictures, gushing praise

The Stasi

Amazingly, they now seem to think they were a bit hard done to when the wall came down. Bastards