The Lives of Others
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Movie Reviews of The Lives of Others
Movie Review: Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Great foreign flick! The plot is pretty twisted and makes for an intriguing movie. As long as you don't mind reading subtitles and figuring out which German name goes with which guy, get this movie.Movie Review: Magnificent, Thrilling, Frightening
Summary: 5 Stars
After seeing this amazing film, I was driven to write a review, but there's nothing I can say about its brilliance that hasn't been said before. One interesting thing was that the film started in 1984 (Orwell anyone?). Most deserved winner of the Foreign Language Oscar (though I admired "Pan's Labyrinth" very much), there is definitely a line that needs to be crossed when dealing with man's inhumanity to man, even after the fact. Costa Gavras' "Z" immediately comes to mind, but here we have so much more of the human spirit, mostly from the marvelous, late Ulrich M?he as a man of conscience and a despairing realization of the "wrong" in which he'd been assimilated. Since this film was released so late, it's now appearing on many 2007 Best lists. It hadn't appeared in many American theatres (if any) during 2006, so maybe the late Herr M?he could be nominated. He certainly deserves it. Also wonderful are the stunning and subtle performances of Sebastian Koch & Martina Gedeck, as the couple being tormented. This is not a simple story; its complexities are immeasurable, and the absolutely brilliant director, von Donnersmarck, is so sure of his material that no nerve is left untouched. The DVD extras are very insightful and moving. This is highly recommended. Film-making rarely is more profound, nor as insightful.Movie Review: The Joyless Lives of Imperfect Humans
Summary: 5 Stars
"It may be arguably true that, in Jean-Paul Sartre's words, "hell is other people," but what "The Lives of Others" brilliantly proves is that drama fits exactly the same definition." Kenneth Turin
1984, ring a bell? The years in Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are taken on a ride like none other with Capt. Gert Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe), a domestic surveillance specialist and interrogation expert who works for the Ministry for State Security. Professionally, he's identified only as HGW XX/7 working for Stasi. The time is grim, Capt. Wiesler dresses in gray, a trim jacket and pants, and lives a gray life. He is indoctrinated into the system and everything is for the State. The richness of life is missing, the State must know everything and your neighbors, your family may be spying on you.
Capt Wielser is invited to a play by his superior, and he creates an interest in poet and playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch). Wiselier takes an instant dislike to him and his girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), an actress in Dreyman's play. Soon Capt Wielser is involved in a plot to spy on the two. The Minister of Culture, or vulture in this case, has a sexual interest in Christa-Maria. Their apartment is bugged, and Capt Wiesler has taken a 12 hour shift to listen to everything that occurs. He finds a lot occurs and soon he is very interested in this couple. Some of what he finds he reports, the rest, well, Capt Wiesler becomes involved in their lives. His sense of identity becomes confused and the face of secrecy and the grayness seems to change.
The score for 'The Lives of Others' is fabulous. Gabriel Yared and his sometime orchestrator, St?phane Moucha write and play the score. The score has delicate and luxurious melodies. Unfortunately, the score on the the CD of the same name is cut and is only thirty minutes, but it is still glorious. It matches each character and mood of the film and is haunting.
The film has one of the most moving endings and as Peter Travis says,"It's an ending you don't see coming, yet it feels totally right. Von Donnersmarck, the first time Director, has crafted the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head."
This film won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 2006. Richly deserved.
Highly Recommended. prisrob 01-06-08
Movie Review: freedom is priceless
Summary: 5 Stars
Must be seen/should be seen by young and old alike--especially by those who take freedom and democracy for granted.
Intelligently written and directed. Authentically portrayed.
Want to have some idea what it was like for the average citizen to exist in East Germany under Commie rule?
A living hell. Your worst nightmare.
See this film. Tell others about it.
Director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck (believe me, I've had to consult--repeatedly--the box art the DVD came in order to get the spelling right) is a film director who ought to be saluted.
Movie Review: As it was then, is becoming again
Summary: 5 Stars
My brother bought the DVD because he liked it so much, and insisted that i watch it too. I did today, and it was well spend time. It is a German movie based in East Berlin in 1984, which won a bunch of awards - deservedly i might add.
It is an excellent portrayal of how a repressive regime can shape people's psychology, whether they are of the oppressors or those against. In 1984 the Stasi (GDR's secret police) had agents trained on how to spy the 'suspects' (anyone thought to not follow the regime's ideology) and how to extract information from them. Human psychology is shown to be a valuable tool in the hands of the agents, and so is their "research" on how to break down a suspect to talk.
The story follows Gerd Weisler (who actually reminds a lot of Inspector Finch character from V for Vendetta), a man who works for Stasi and is shown to be a loyal robot-like person with no life of his own, living by the rules. That changes when he is assigned to spy on a couple - Georg, a writer and his companion Christa-Maria, an actress. He seems to be discovering through them aspects of life, morality and relationships not known to him before, and against his previous beliefs. His transformation is very interesting to watch and at times i was not sure whether he would follow the Stasi code, or his own conscience; but that was true in a sense for all characters, as their actions were hard to predict. Acting is excellent, and so is the music, as well the literature/art references, which create a certain atmosphere for the audience to enter.
Yep, it is very relevant in our days, where surveillance is becoming accepted by the vast majority everywhere, without understanding where it can/would lead to, or without the knowledge that this has happened so many times in the past and will do again and again, until we learn to study history and learn from it.
This movie kept me on the edge of my sit - there's no dull or boring moment in it - and with tears on the edge of my eyes throughout. It gets 5 stars from me and i highly recommend it! :)