The Lives of Others
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Movie Reviews of The Lives of Others
Movie Review: A TRULY GREAT FILM!
Summary: 5 Stars
If I should pick the five greatest films I have seen in my life, The Lives of Others would be one of them. It is a story of people living in the GDR before the collapse of the Wall. It is a study in how much people can and cannot endure.
The performances are breathtaking - no point in selecting a few of the actors to praise, as even the actors who have no lines excel in their craft. The music, the costumes, the settings, all are fitting and magnificent.
Praise must be given the most for the film's creator and director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. He spent many years of his life developing what can only be considered one of the great films of our time. He made this film with limited funds, and even when it was completed, all but one distribution company in Germany refused to be involved with it. Ha! Ha! Ha! on them when it finally won the Academy Award for best foreign film is all I can say.
I found it fascinating, after watching the film without the director's comments, to re-watch it with the comments. The director shares how the film came to birth, and the many elements which came to play in its making. I saw the film with new eyes as the director related details of each scene's making.
This is a very exciting film which I know I will watch again and again from here on! And I thank the director for his stamina and persistence in making his vision a reality.
Movie Review: A masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautiful movie.
Why can't we make good movies in America anymore?
Probably because we think that the more expensive they come the better they'll be. The Lives of Others proves the opposite. The budget of this movie must have been 1 percent of a Hollywood Blockbuster but the result is a hundred times better. It's time we learnt that lesson in this country.
This movie is about how human beings can be redeemed. Without preeching and always very subtly we witness the transformation of a servant of a cruel, tyrannical state into a modern day saint and that transformation is so moving that it had me in tears by the end.
I recommend this as a masterpiece.
Movie Review: Wonderful film...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is easily one of the top ten films of the past ten years. Beautifully written and acted, it recalls the scary nightmare that was communist totalitarianism in East Germany. I highly recommend it. The funny thing for me is that I ordered this film used from the buyer Planetjman on this site; the seller didn't like the three-star feedback that I gave him. Suddenly, I felt I was in the throes of an Orwellian world, when the seller started threatening me online to change my feedback. I did not. He retaliated by writing a negative feedback about me, but it goes to show how instinctive and pervasive the bullying and "agree with me or else..." mentality is even on something as innocuous as amazon! (An aside: Needless to say, if you buy from this seller, remember to write nice things about him..or else!) That's what this film is about! A must see for anyone who feels the need to glorify communist dictatorships with their thought-police and souless empires.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!!!