The daily realities of tyranny and morality behind the Berlin Wall are intertwined in this brilliant German debut
George Orwell would recognize much in The Lives Of Others, a gripping and distressing vision of life under the jackboot of state repression.
Set in the former East Germany in 1984, its drama takes place under the shadow of the Berlin Wall in a country ruled by the secret police, the Stasi. Debut writer-director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck crafts an intricate tale about other people's lives as State Security Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is ordered to monitor one of the country's top playwrights, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). As the watcher and the watched intertwine, The Lives Of Others shows us the way in which the daily realities of tyranny threaten to dehumanize everyone involved.
Having struck a painful nerve in its reunified native land - where it swept the board at the 2006 German Film Awards - The Lives Of Others has been described by many as an antidote to the light-hearted comedy of films like Goodbye Lenin. No cheerful recollection of life as it used to be under the Communists, it's a truly devastating political thriller that invites Germany to grapple with its chequered Cold War past. Adult, intelligent and unwilling to deliver glib answers to the thorny issues of personal morality that it raises, it's a film that slowburns into your consciousness like a cigarette end being stubbed out on your brain. In part, it's a result of several terrific performances that are headlined by Mühe as Wiesler, the cold, dispassionate Stasi officer. A grey man in a grey land of Skodas and grim tower blocks he believes fervently in what he does, an idealist who thinks the secret police are "the Party's sword and shield".
Entering Dreyman's apartment and fitting it with bugging devices, Wiesler begins 24/7 surveillance, yet what he overhears leads him to question his calling. As well as being captivated by the lives of Dreyman and his beautiful actress girlfriend, Wiesler begins to realize that he's just a tool in a personal vendetta. It's a gradual epiphany that makes him question the morality of his actions, an inner drama that's brought to life through Von Donnersmarck use of the piano piece 'Sonata For A Good Man'. What, the film asks, is a good man? A patriot who follows orders? Or someone who risks everything to show compassion to others?
Mühe's placid performance hides great depths. His character is an insipid man who discovers a great passion and acts to preserve it. Fascinatingly, the actor himself had first-hand experience of Stasi surveillance. After the Wall came down and the secret police files were opened to the public, he discovered that Stasi records indicated his ex-wife had been informing on him (an accusation she denies).
It's an anecdote that's instructive of just how portentous this film is in the history of German cinema; The Lives Of Others is one of the first fictional movies since the fall of the Wall to truly capture the cruelty and sadism of life as it was back in the GDR. It's a powerful piece of cinema that demands to be grappled with, if only so that we can also see how the lives of others affect us too.
Set in the former East Germany in 1984, its drama takes place under the shadow of the Berlin Wall in a country ruled by the secret police, the Stasi. Debut writer-director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck crafts an intricate tale about other people's lives as State Security Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is ordered to monitor one of the country's top playwrights, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). As the watcher and the watched intertwine, The Lives Of Others shows us the way in which the daily realities of tyranny threaten to dehumanize everyone involved.
Having struck a painful nerve in its reunified native land - where it swept the board at the 2006 German Film Awards - The Lives Of Others has been described by many as an antidote to the light-hearted comedy of films like Goodbye Lenin. No cheerful recollection of life as it used to be under the Communists, it's a truly devastating political thriller that invites Germany to grapple with its chequered Cold War past. Adult, intelligent and unwilling to deliver glib answers to the thorny issues of personal morality that it raises, it's a film that slowburns into your consciousness like a cigarette end being stubbed out on your brain. In part, it's a result of several terrific performances that are headlined by Mühe as Wiesler, the cold, dispassionate Stasi officer. A grey man in a grey land of Skodas and grim tower blocks he believes fervently in what he does, an idealist who thinks the secret police are "the Party's sword and shield".
Entering Dreyman's apartment and fitting it with bugging devices, Wiesler begins 24/7 surveillance, yet what he overhears leads him to question his calling. As well as being captivated by the lives of Dreyman and his beautiful actress girlfriend, Wiesler begins to realize that he's just a tool in a personal vendetta. It's a gradual epiphany that makes him question the morality of his actions, an inner drama that's brought to life through Von Donnersmarck use of the piano piece 'Sonata For A Good Man'. What, the film asks, is a good man? A patriot who follows orders? Or someone who risks everything to show compassion to others?
Mühe's placid performance hides great depths. His character is an insipid man who discovers a great passion and acts to preserve it. Fascinatingly, the actor himself had first-hand experience of Stasi surveillance. After the Wall came down and the secret police files were opened to the public, he discovered that Stasi records indicated his ex-wife had been informing on him (an accusation she denies).
It's an anecdote that's instructive of just how portentous this film is in the history of German cinema; The Lives Of Others is one of the first fictional movies since the fall of the Wall to truly capture the cruelty and sadism of life as it was back in the GDR. It's a powerful piece of cinema that demands to be grappled with, if only so that we can also see how the lives of others affect us too.
Verdict
A stunning debut about the daily reality of tyranny that will strike a chord far beyond its native Germany.
A stunning debut about the daily reality of tyranny that will strike a chord far beyond its native Germany.
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