The Lives of Others
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Movie Reviews of The Lives of Others
Movie Review: Great Story, Great Characters, Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was much better than I had expected. I probably would never have watched it, as movies like this are usually with a political agenda, or too depressing and not very good stories with too predictable endings. It was actually in an article that claimed William F Buckley Jr. said it was the best movie he had ever seen, that caught my attention and got my interest peaked. What sort of movie could get such a reaction out of this guy?
This movie is a great story all on it's own, even if you took the country and political group aside and made them generic, or placed the whole incident on some foreign planet in another solar system.
Watching the movie, at first, I assumed the whole story was just going to show examples of how bad it was in East Germany, and try to preach another message of how bad those type of situations are. I was pleasantly surprised to find a really good, well thought out, story line with an emotional ending that really was unexpected, and I had not seem coming, (very rare for movies today, I can usually figure out how all movies are going to end after watching them for only 10 minutes) and really made for a great movie experience for me.
I am not one for war or military type movies or ones about oppresive governments and depressing situations. Probably because they never have what this movie has, a clever and well written story that isn't all about teaching us a lesson, or preaching propaganda, but a really good story and movie that the big movie companies can't seem to write or produce anymore.
If you watch this and at the begining don't know what is going on, and think it is too hard to follow, just stick with it! Watch it to the end, and you will not be sorry!
I love this movie, because of the individual characters that develop, and what happens at the end, and it goes through any politics or bias, it would be a great story even if you changed the country and regime to something else, because again, it is really about a great story between these individual characters, and not about preaching a political agenda, although such a unique story could not have been made without the setting of this type of situation, so the communist setting is in the story for a reason.
Even in the bonus feature interviews, the director, (who also wrote, casted, researched and made this movie) said he was not out to make a movie with "a message" that seems to be the basic template of most movies today. I'm glad, because when I watch a movie, I want to be entertained or be told a good story, not be forced to watch a 2 hour public service announcement or be taught how to think about a political issue.
Also, I would like to note that the English Subtitles are very close to what is being said in German, which I find usually not to be the case with most movies. I was impressed by the translation. My wife doesn't understand German at all, and only had the subtitles to go by, and she loved the movie as much as I did, and came away with the same strong emotional satisfaction opon it's conclusion.
The Bonus interviews are quite interesting to watch after the movie, giving some interesting and surprising information about some of the actors and thier real life history and experience with the time period and locations the story takes place in. Especially the part about the actor that actually learned how to play piano for the movie.
This DVD takes a proud place in my collection of favorite movies of all time. I wouldn't say it was number 1, but would rank it in the top 10 or so, considering all the movies I have ever seen.
I am not going to explain what touched me the most about this movie, and what is my most favorite part of it, because I don't want to ruin the experience for those who have not yet watched it.
Even if you are usually turned away from this type of movie or story line, I highly recomend watching it, it is a brilliant story that has never been done before in a movie.
My wife and I both felt a very strong emotional "satisfaction" after the movie was over and the credits were rolling. Too many movies today end predictable, or else don't have any ending at all and leave too many unanswered questsions. This one gives a strong satisfied feeling.
Movie Review: Sonata For A Good Man
Summary: 5 Stars
East Germany, 1984: Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is a career policeman in the German Democratic Republic's notorious Stasi; frighteningly well-skilled in the methods of interrogation and surveillance, Gerd is tasked by his department head with the job of bugging, electronically surveiling and collecting evidence against Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a popular playwright whose glowing socialist polemics are unilaterally favoured by the party. During the course of his surveillance, Gerd comes to realise that it is in fact a senior party member's envy of Johan's relationship with actress Christa-Maria Sealand (Martina Gedeck), rather than any seditious behaviour on his own part, that has led to Johan being earmarked as a dissident. Quietly incensed by this corruption of socialist ideals and state mechanisms, and touched by the depth warmth, depth and vulnerability of Georg and Christa-Maria's relationship (which only serves to underline his own inherent sense of loneliness), Gerd begins to consider a quiet act of rebellion. But what chance of success can he truly hope to have given that he exists in a world in which even the watchmen are watched?
The "lonely man" genre of film is one that has been well-mined in cinema, but never to such devastating emotional effect as it is in "The Lives Of Others". Sure, you felt sorry for Gene Hackman and Robin Williams at the end of The Conversation and One Hour Photo (Widescreen Edition), but neither of those films elicited the emotional responses that I experienced whilst watching "The Lives Of Others". Perhaps this was due to the fact that this story had an all too painful basis in the recent history of a country which once considered omnipresent surveillance, arbitrary imprisonment and state harassment to the point of suicide as legitimate tools of government; or perhaps it was due to the shocking degree of authenticity (many of the actors themselves grew up living under the yoke and suffering harassment at the hands of the Stasi and virtually all of the locations featured and surveillance equipment depicted in the film were the real mcoy), but largely I suspect the reason that I was so effected by this film was because it is simply the most perfectly realised and stunningly well-acted film of it's kind.
Ulrich Mühe gives one of the most brilliantly nuanced performances that I have ever seen as a cog who begins to realise that the machine - of which he is an initially willing component - is being maintained and run by and for the convenience of a corrupt and odious few. His is not some heroic, Damascus-style conversion to the cause of humanity but rather the quiet, diligent commitment of a man (who has been duped into giving his life to a corrupted ideal) to doing something for two gentle people who do not deserve a fate decreed by avaricious, envious Gods; the acts which he undertakes are carried out as much for his own sense of metaphysical self-preservation as for Georg and Christa-Maria's physical safety - a fact which is driven home by the very final line of the film.
However, one should not fixate on Mühe's performance alone though as the film truly is an ensemble piece in which every performance evokes the reality of lives lived under a constant state control and surveillance (and for those looking for further insight into the reality of life In the GDR, I wholeheartedly recommend Anna Funder's disturbingly fascinating book, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall).
It is well known that the course of history is in fact written by a million quiet acts. But it is rare that the minutiae of one such act is so subtly, effectively and devastatingly rendered on the big screen and it is for this reason that "The Lives Of Others" deserves every accolade that it has received.
Movie Review: 1984, East Germany - Shield and Sword of the Party know everything
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Lives of Others", the 2007 very deserving Oscar winner for the Best Foreign Film is IMO, the best film of last year regardless of the country it was made in. It took its writer/director several years first to thoroughly research still very painful events of the recent German history, the ones that deal with infamous and evil STASI (State Secret Police) and how it infiltrated and affected almost every aspect of GDR life. Before the collapse of the Soviet system and its most ominous and infamous symbol, the wall in the end of the 80s, life in East Germany of 1984 had imitated art precisely like in the prophetic and terrifying George Orwell's novel. Each citizen could have and majority were closely monitored by STASI which motto was "Shield and Sword of the Party" and its goal, "To know everything". By the time East Germany collapsed in 1989, STASI employed an estimated 91,000 employees and 300,000 informants; about one in fifty East Germans collaborated with the powerful and Omni-present Secret Police, one of the most extensive infiltrations of a police apparatus in history. The STASI monitored political behavior among GDR citizens, and is known to have used torture and intimidation to mute, corrupt, and destroy dissent. Even those who believed they were above suspicion due to their closeness to the prominent members of the government were not safe. The film explores the lives of those who watched and listened and those on the other side of the wire.
I was shocked to find out that such astounding movie was a directorial debut of 33 years old Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - so artistically impeccable this honest, human, horrifying, harrowing yet hopeful film is. The film makers had recreated successfully and precisely the 1980s with its dark suffocating atmosphere of constant abuse of individual privacy in the former German Democratic republic. The locations, the huge dominating gray apartment buildings of the big city where every wall seems to have the ears and the eyes , the old cars on the streets of East Berlin - everything looks, sounds, and feels authentically . As great as "The Lives of Others is", it would not have been the same without Ulrich Mühe, as Captain Gerd Wiesler, a highly skilled and efficient STASI officer and a loyal member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, who spies on successful playwright and his actress girlfriend by the order of corrupted hypocritical member of the government. While listening to the Lives of Others, Wiesler's own life would change in the way he had never expected.
Once you start watching the movie, you'll see how Ulrich Mühe effortlessly over towers every other performance on the screen, and they are all excellent. The real life of Ulrich Mühe could make a great and compelling movie and the script for "The Lives of Others" was written with him in mind. He was born, grew up, and became a famous actor in the Eastern Germany back in the late 70s of the last century. By the words of von Donnersmarck, STASI began spying on Mühe right after he had graduated from High School because STASI realized that he would be great even before he himself realized that. After German reunification, Mühe discovered evidence in his STASI file that he had been under surveillance not only by four of his fellow actors in the East Berlin theater, but also by his second wife, Jenny Gröllmann. This was denied by Gröllmann who, after an acrimonious and highly-publicized court case, succeeded in obtaining an injunction to prevent Mühe from repeating the allegation in a book. Mühe's response when asked how he prepared for his role in Das Leben der Anderen was simple, "I remembered". Mühe passed away few months ago, in July 2007 due to stomach cancer at the age or 54, and when I read it, I felt emptiness - like a very good close friend has gone forever. His performance in the film "The Lives of Others" will live always as one of the best and most memorable given by any actor of the screen.
Movie Review: These secrets are worth listening to...
Summary: 5 Stars
When `Das Leben der Anderen' (The Lives of Others) won the Oscar last year for Best Foreign Film I was shocked to say the least. I hadn't actually heard much about the film until Oscar night and since `Pan's Labyrinth' was so widely known and the expected winner I just couldn't see it being dethroned, and then it was. At the time I hadn't seen either film but the general consensus was that `Pan's Labyrinth' was a masterpiece and so I was actually a little upset at the upset Oscar night. Now that I have seen `Das Leben der Anderen' I can honestly say that I am no longer upset but thrilled that it is an Oscar winning film. `Das Leben der Anderen' is one of the finest films I've seen in years and sports some of the finest performances to be cemented on film. It's intriguing, enthralling and captivating from start to finish and is, in a word, flawless.
The film takes place during 1984 in Berlin. The East German Secret Police (or the Stasi) have ordered agent Gerd Wiesler to wiretap Georg Dreyman, a successful playwright, and his girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland, to uncover whether or not they are a danger to the government. There man not be any reason to suggest or accuse either of them of seditious thinking or actions but the mere fact that Minister Bruno Hempf has a personal interest in Sieland (a very personal interest) is reason enough to order to investigation. This deep prying into their personal lives leads to some very devastating consequences that all could have, and should have, been avoided.
The film beautifully fleshes out each character here and draws the audience into what is unfolding on the screen. Ulrich Muhe (who sadly passed away shortly after the film was released) has received much praise and many accolades for his performance as Gerd Wiesler, the distraught Stasi agent spying on the couple. As he further implants himself in their lives he begins to weigh out the pointlessness of his own existence and begins to wonder if what he believes is really what he should believe. His performance is human, it's real, but it's not the best performance here. Martina Gedeck has also received much praise for her portrayal of young actress Christa-Maria Sieland. You can read the emotions that run across her face, the anger, the disbelief, the fear, the regret. She is a revelation here, but she does not give the best performance here either.
The top honors, in my humble opinion, are reserved for Sebastian Koch, who nails Georg Dreyman masterfully. As the troubled writer struggling with his own views and those of the ones around him Koch makes Dreyman someone we can all relate to, and rationalize with. There is so much to be told about this man, and so much is riding on this solitary performance. We know that the Minister is fascinated with Sieland, but Wiesler is obsessed with Dreyman, and so it's up to Koch to let the audience know why. Koch does just that. His body language is effortless and captivating, his voice is empowering, his mannerisms, the way he floats from thought to spoken word is just pure brilliance. Sebastian Koch gives one of, if not the finest performance I've seen this year.
`Das Leben der Anderen' is beautifully written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck in a way that not only draws the audience but makes them a part what's going on. What he has done with his debut film is something many directors never accomplish, not in the entire span of their careers. You will find yourself as personally invested in this story as Wiesler is, as absorbed in the lives of Dreyman and Sieland and even Wiesler himself and will ultimately be asking yourselves questions that only a masterpiece such as `Das Leben der Anderen' can illicit, questions about life, decisions and consequences and how we as human beings would react if given the opportunity.
Movie Review: The Secret Police Are Everywhere!
Summary: 5 Stars
_The Lives of Others_ (2006) is a German language film which presents a disturbing portrayal of the Communist East German state in 1984. The film shows a society in which the government engages in constant spying on private citizens, ruthless interrogation of would-be and suspected dissenters, and a culture in which the average citizen lives in fear of being blacklisted by the powers that be and in fear of their neighbors who might snitch on them to the secret police. The film illustrates the usual communist fear of intellectuals and artists ("arrogant types who need to be monitored") and the constant need of the artist or intellectual to conform to the dictates of party ideology in order to avoid being blacklisted or worse. The film also shows the corruption of the East German government officials, as they use women as prostitutes (often against their will), engage in petty maneuverings, and must constantly suck up to the higher-ups or "bigwigs" in the party in order to obtain favors or promotions. The film also shows the inability of East Germans to leave their country (with very few exceptions) and the manner in which the party has utterly sucked the very life out from the people through the Stasi secret police. In sum, the film shows a surveillance society at its most Orwellian under a corrupt and evil government which oppresses the people. Such was the government of East Germany during the time period that this film is supposed to take place.
_The Lives of Others_ focuses on the life and career of the playwright Georg Dreyman, who remains among the only playwrights still deemed sufficiently loyal to the regime to be allowed to produce their plays. While watching a play of Dreyman, the Stasi captain Gerd Wiesler concludes that Dreyman is a "dangerous type" and thus deserves to be spied on. Wiesler sets up a series of microphones in Dreyman's apartment and in that manner listens in on him and his girlfriend, the actress Christa-Maria. The goings on of Dreyman remain relatively mundane and there is little evidence of subversive activity. However, it is while at a party that Dreyman encounters his old friend and fellow playwright Jerska who has been blacklisted. Further, it is revealed that Dreyman's girlfriend is being forced to have sex with the Chairman Hempf. Dreyman remains loyal to the party until one day Jerska commits suicide which along with his girlfriend's affairs pushes him over the edge. Together with his friends they decide to publish a report on suicide within the GDP (East Germany) and sneak this report over to the West. The rest of the movie reveals how this conspiracy plays out and the role of Wiesler becomes increasingly important. Surprisingly, Wiesler may not be the evil man and loyal member of the Stasi that we had originally suspected him of being. To see how this plays out in the film you must watch the movie.
This film is an excellent movie which shows the paranoia that existed under a communist dictatorship. The secret police rule a nation and the only way to achieve any sort of success or security is through truckling to higher powers. As such, we see the complete demoralization of the people who are forced to live under a corrupt government and the complete failure of the communist enterprise. This film is highly recommended to those who would consider these issues. However, the film also reveals that even amidst such a totalitarian dictatorship there exist opportunities to display human kindness and graciousness. As such the film may be seen as a triumph for humanity, despite the corrupting powers of governments. Highly recommended.