The Lives of Others
by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Thieme, Ulrich Mühe, Ulrich TukurDirector: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 137 minutes
Published: 2007-08-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- AC-3; Color; Dolby; Widescreen; Subtitled; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The Lives of Others
Movie Review: Stasi wants "to know everything."
Summary: 5 Stars
I never had the "pleasure" of living in the "Workers' Paradise" of East Germany before the fall of the Wall, and therefore cannot vouch for the authenticity of the life depicted in this film. But others have, and I have read enough of their accounts, including some by von Donnersmarck's childhood memories (his father's uncle was the Chief of Protocol for East Germany's President, Eric Honecker), to be convinced that "that's the way it was." For almost five decades, some sixteen millions people lived in an Orwellian country known as the DDR, Deutsche Demokratische Republik (East Germany) under the control of the most Stalinist government in Europe. Its citizens were under the constant surveillance and control of the most sophisticated secret police the world had ever known, the East German Ministerium für Staatsicherheit, or Stasi, with the efficiency, excuse my cliché, for which Germans are known. The Stasi employed about 100,000 agents, plus a network of several hundred thousand "extras," who willingly, through bribery, or through coercion reported to the Stasi, informing on their neighbors, co-workers, friends, and even own family members. Stasi only goal was to know everything about the "lives of others."
The Lives of Others is at once a political thriller and a human drama. It is a fictitious story based on historical facts. Director von Donnersmarck was also the scenarist. The film's characters were compiled from many different real-life figures, to the extend that several of its actors had been themselves the victims of Stasi surveillance and persecutions, and their own private experiences have contributed immensely toward the authenticity of the film. For example, Ulrich Mühe (Stasi Captain Wiesler) found out after the Wall came down that not only several members of his theater group were spying on him, but his ex-wife had been a Stasi informer and spied on him for a dozen of years. Thomas Thieme (Culture Minister Bruno Hempf) was harassed by Stasi before he managed to leave East Germany in the 1980s, and Stasi tried to recruit Volkmar Kleinert (Jerska) as an informer on his fellow actors
von Donnersmarck's quest for authenticity led him to shoot in as many original locations in East Berlin as possible, such as in the former Stasi headquarters, which included Stasi's original file-card archives, seen at the end of the picture. All of the furniture and objects needed for the film - bugs, surveillance equipment, a room full of machines that steam open letters, and so on, are all original items, gathered from private collectors and museums by prop master Klaus Spielhagen, himself blacklisted by Stasi and imprisoned for two years. The streets of East Berlin are shot with hardly any traffic, as they were then, and the local pub is also nearly empty. Captain Wiesler lives in one of these drab, lifeless, high-rise apartment buildings prevalent in the Eastern European countries under communist regimes, while playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) occupies a gentrified apartment in an old building, typical of the old Berlin. The cinematography contributes greatly to the film's atmosphere. The colors are pale and unsaturated. Brown, gray, beige, orange, and especially green dominate the palette, with blues and reds noticeably absent. As a result of this absolute realism, this film was well-received in Germany, particularly in East Germany, by the press, leading authors, freedom fighters, and intellectuals of the former DDR: they all wrote praising the film for its authenticity.
The success of this film owes much to the high caliber of its actors, several of them having been previously exposed to similar scenarios in real life. In particular, one of Germany's leading actresses, the beautiful Martina Gedeck (Christa-Maria Sieland), recipient of many awards, gives a subtle, vulnerable performance. Sebastian Koch's insouciant, bordering on arrogant, attitude of an adulated playwright is convincing. Multitalented Ulrich Tukur (Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Grubitz) renders the role of a devious, opportunistic department head perfectly, and Thomas Thieme is absolutely repulsive as the lecherous Culture Minister.. But it is Ulrich Mühe 's superb performance, the depth and subtlety of emotions that underscore his acting as he evolves from an ideological bureaucrat into a compassionate human being, which is most fascinating. His performance is not without recalling that of another voyeur, the equally wonderful Michel Blanc in Patrice Leconte's Monsieur Hire (1989).
Another asset of The Lives of Others which contributed to its success is its haunting film score, composed by the multiple award-winner, Gabriel Yared (The Lover/1992, The English Patient/1996, Cold Mountain/2003). In particular, one notices the exquisite "Sonata for a Good Man," an excerpt of which is played in the film by Dreyman. The sorrowful and complex music was recorded by the outstanding Prague Symphony Orchestra.
von Donnersmarck offers viewers a cathartic second ending to his film, an equivalent of a musical coda or a literary epilogue, which is a welcome relief to the viewers. There is indeed an under-current of sadness that builds up slowly, imperceptibly, as the film progresses. If The Lives of Others is a political thriller, it is also a human drama, and it is a tribute to the director's artistry and depth that draws his audience into the relentless torments of his characters' wasted talents and lives. At the end of the projection, there were hardly any dry eyes in the audience, which was itself enveloped with a feeling of deep sorrow. If one feels compassion for the misery endured by the subjugated people of East Germany, one cannot help but to also feel genuine empathy for Wiesler. And after a brief moment, something happened which I have very seldom heard or seen in an American movie theater: people applauded.
This film is 137 minutes short, and as a final remark on the production, I will add that the intensity of the drama is such that very soon, for those of us who do not speak German, we forget we are reading subtitles.
The film's first theme is of political nature: life in the "Workers' Paradise" of East Germany in the 1980s -- love it or...don't leave it. The Lives of Others is the first film that treats an aspect of the life in the DDR which, up to now, has been avoided. All the previous films about East Germany were generally light-hearted; the latest one which met with some success in the US was Good Bye Lenin! (2003), portraying the DDR as a benevolent dictatorship at best, and a bad joke for sure. The present film shows a totally different aspect of East Germany, that of a gloomy country with an oppressive government. We are showed how politics can infect -- and potentially destroy -- every aspect of a citizen's life: work, creativity, leisure, intimacy, and even sex. Steering smoothly between the personal and the political arenas, the film shows how destructively the two fields of activities were combined for millions of innocent East Germans. More generally, we are confronted with a basic reality which is that no matter which country one considers, there are always people in the higher echelons of government who, with the complicity of eager followers, seek to highjack the freedom of the citizens under the pretext of fighting a common internal, but more often external, threat. These politicos are motivated by ideologies, private ambitions, greed, stupidity, or ignorance. Germany is one good example, and we, in the United States, should not be too complacent to believe that it cannot happen here. It is presently happening under the influence of the group of "neocons" who are playing fast and loose with the US Constitution, slowly and deliberately cutting back our civil liberties at home. Do I have to remind you that the neocons' doctrine has its roots in Trotsky's concept of government?
The second theme follows from the first: knowledge is power. In its quest to have absolute power over the East German citizens, the government must strive to obtain absolute knowledge of every aspect of their lives -- their thoughts, behavior, intentions, and activities -- at all times. Through this knowledge, the government can act to counter any subversive activities which could challenge and endanger the regime. This is a question of life or death for the government, and it must employ all means possible, spare no efforts, and be vigilant 24/7, in its quest for information. Governmental justification for spying on its own citizens is, of course, the common external enemy (in this case, Western capitalism) which threatens the Socialist regime. In other times, for different governments with different enemies, the end result is the same: a gross violation of the citizens' human rights.
The film's third theme is a philosophical one: it explicitly shows how an ideology must shut off one's feelings in order to pursue one's goals. The true essence of ideology is the total supremacy of its principle over feelings, and the biggest life challenge is finding the right balance between the two -- between one's ideological principle and one's true feelings -- when confronted with a moral choice.
I would agree with Minister Hempf's statement that "People don't change." No matter what happens in a person's life, that person remains true to his or her nature. However, when along the way, one attains the right balance, albeit temporarily, between ideology and feelings, one is said to have "changed." In this context Minister Hempf's statement is wrong, and Captain Wiesler does change. As always, there is never only one cause for a change. Wiesler's dramatic change actually begins soon into the story, when he goes to the theater, an unusual diversion for the person so far depicted. This is followed by his growing awareness of Grubitz's opportunistic character, resulting in his old friend occupying a better position in the Stasi than is own. Weisler contends with the arbitrary use of absolute power when he finds out that his mission has more to do with Minister Hempf's sexual urges than with the defense of Socialism. Finally, as he takes over the direction of Operation Lazlo (an allusion to Casablanca/1942?), Wiesler gets exposed to people whom he would usually only have met during an interrogation situation. And as he becomes more and more familiar with every intimate aspect of their lives, Wiesler starts to question his own life. Through these people, he gets exposed to the arts, and goes so far as to "borrow" (this could have been a costly mistake for his operative procedure) and read a book by Bertolt Brecht. Although at first he is rather unwilling, even to the point of finally betraying Dreyman, all these things put together make him change, until he finally commits a genuine heroic act.
Summary of The Lives of Others
This critically-acclaimed, Oscar®-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) is the erotic, emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls "a nail-biter of a thriller!" Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany?s population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman, were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg?s stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer?s apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives - as well as his - in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is "the best kind of movie: one you can?t get out of your head."
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Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this is a first-rate thriller that, like Bertolucci's The Conformist and Coppola's The Conversation, opts for character development over car chases. The place is East Berlin, the year is 1984, and it all begins with a simple surveillance assignment: Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe in a restrained, yet deeply felt performance), a Stasi officer and a specialist in this kind of thing, has been assigned to keep an eye on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch, Black Book), a respected playwright, and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck, Mostly Martha). Though Dreyman is known to associate with the occasional dissident, like blacklisted director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert), his record is spotless. Everything changes when Wiesler discovers that Minister Hempf (Thomas Thieme) has an ulterior motive in spying on this seemingly upright citizen. In other words, it's personal, and Wiesler's sympathies shift from the government to its people--or at least to this one particular person. That would be risky enough, but then Wiesler uses his privileged position to affect a change in Dreyman's life. The God-like move he makes may be minor and untraceable, but it will have major consequences for all concerned, including Wiesler himself. Writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck starts with a simple premise that becomes more complicated and emotionally involving as his assured debut unfolds. Though three epilogues is, arguably, two too many, The Lives of Others is always elegant, never confusing. It's class with feeling. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Beyond The Lives of Others
 Films from Germany |  Other Cold War Films |  More Arthouse Selections from Sony Pictures Classics |
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