The Lives of Others [Blu-ray]
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Movie Reviews of The Lives of Others [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: Hearing the heretics
Summary: 5 Stars
It's all about stability - how to maintain it and how to prevent its disruption. In East Germany, from the establishment of The Wall, society found ways to lay out a given path for life. It also provided a traffic control body to keep individuals on that track. The traffic controllers were the staff and informants of the Stasi. Applying various, but effective, methods of thought control, the DDR rooted out dissent in its attempt to keep its populace thinking along "approved" lines. While we have been inundated with books and films depicting brutality, murder and intimidation applied in the East, this film shows an entirely different and far more efficient approach.
Gerd Wiesler [Muhe], a Stasi captain, is recruited to launch an investigation of playwright Georg Dreymark. There's very little to indicate Dreymark is a threat to society, but the motivation arises from elsewhere. Dreymark's girl-friend, Christa-Maria [Gedeck], is an object of the Culture Minister's passions. Wiesler undertakes the surveillance himself, and his portrayal carries this film far beyond entertainment. We have already seen his interrogation techniques - calm, dispassionate and merciless. Whatever he undertakes will be seen through thoroughly. The surveillance of Dreymark and Christa-Maria will be no different.
However, Wiesler learns of the Minister's prompting of the spying - a corruption of the socialist ideal. More significantly, Wiesler is able to discern Dreymark's humanity expressed in ways none of his previous victims have demonstrated. One of these is Dreymark's defence of his former play director Albert Jerska. Wiesler sees Dreymark confront the Minister over Jerska and learns the blacklisted director had given the playwright the score of "Sonata for a Good Man". The title becomes a key point in the development of the story. Wiesler revises his outlook as the cynicism and coldness of the regime become more apparent to him. He is increasingly aware of the need for people to be people and not automatons.
The film story builds tensions at a perfect pace, increasing with every passing scene. There are no dull nor lost moments. Directory von Donnersmarck's light touch in shifting a character we loathe at the outset of the film into a symbol of pathos at the end. While a shallow view makes Dreymark the victim/hero, it is Wiesler the interrogator and snoop who gains our sympathy. Wiesler comes into increasing conflict with his superior as the focus on Dreymark and Christa-Maria intensifies. Jerska's fate drives Dreymark to take an irrevocable step, one which threatens them all. The conclusion can only be tragic, but the result is nonetheless unexpected.
As with many of the "foreign" films recently released, the Director's Commentary version of the film is well worth taking the time for. This is von Donnersmarck's first full-length film, but there's nothing amateurish about it. He was meticulous in his portrayal of East Berlin, even painting "freedom's graffiti" over each morning prior to shooting in the street. The attention to detail is clear, even in selecting the colours allowed in any given setting. The effect is to seize the viewer from the opening scene and never provide release. The film has garnered many awards and deserves all of them. Mostly, it deserves your attention for its story and its imparted values. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Movie Review: Amazing!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Really brilliant! I enjoyed this movie tremendously! Beautiful mise-en-scene back at the apartment, wonderfully acted. Very stylish and extremely current to the world that we live in!!!Movie Review: Haunting Look At What Life was Like Under Totalitarianism
Summary: 5 Stars
The degree to which the people of East Germany were monitored and spied upon by their Government is chillingly captured in this movie. Focusing on a Stasi agent who is being pressured to set up a playwrite by his superiors, the story is a compelling thriller but at the same time a remarkable peek into what life must have been like behind the iron curtain.
Well written and acted this is a story that will stay with me for some time. A great film on a unique subject.
Movie Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent writing and acting give this movie a great edge. I had no idea what would happen next and it's seldom a movie can surprise me anymore. The Lives Of Others had me on the edge of my seat to the very end. Totally recommend it. Movie Review: An insightful look at the sad, somestimes desperate life, under the watch of the Stasi
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is difficult to watch for some of the people who actually lived under the surveillance of the Stasi in East Germany. I know some of them. It has such a realistic feel of the times, the environment, and the fear of the people. You look at them through the eyes of a watcher. You feel sympathy for the pressed but also for the oppressors and what their jobs did to their sensitivities. You have to rejoice in their final freedom and emotional release but with sadness for the long wait in torment.