the lives of others (2006)

by zEke

I did know it was German. I did know it won an Oscar as the best foreign language film of the year, which does not say much to me. That, and whatever one could wrongly induce from the title and cover of the movie was everything I knew, and truth is, one might be glad of the lack of beforehand information about this one. So, if you do not want to know more than that, it is now time for you to go and do not forget to come back later. Otherwise, let’s read together what I have to write about the lives of others.

In the early 80es, Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is a meticulous, idealistic and devout supporter of the communist regime in the East Germany. He is assigned to spy Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a playwright who lives with his girlfriend and actress Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck). Nevertheless, Wiesler will find out soon that his mission has few to do with hypothetic Dreyman’s Western sympathies but personal interests. Pandora’s box opens up when without hope in a society that bans his art as a playwright, one of Dreyman’s best friends commits suicide, and Dreyman decides to write an article on the unpublished but uncomfortably high suicides rates in Eastern Germany. This will make Wiesler, who is monitoring everything from his seat in a dirty and lonely room, face his own ghosts.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmark, not only has a ever ending name, but also writes and directs a movie about the last years of Berlin Wall. The story takes place in the Eastern Germany side of the wall and focuses on the life of an agent of the Stasi, the intelligence service of the German Democratic Republic, whose motto was “Shield and Sword of the Party”. His values crisis, which arises from the monitoring of a playwright, serves the German filmmaker as an excuse to paint a portrait of choice, fear, doubt, cowardice and heroism under a totalitarian regime and the absurdity of such a controlling system.

The script is well processed but it fails at least twice, let aside the fact that the historical context might or might not be accurate, that, as many other times, depends on the side your resource is on although it seems closer to the latter. First, the change of heart Wiesler will experience, which is not hidden and you are waiting for right from the beginning, is not that well explained and just slightly suggested, we should not forget how far he is at the end from what he was. And second, Dreyman, who is an upright and erudite regime supporter, three adjectives difficult to coexist in the same person in a society like the one portrayed in the movie. Nevertheless, the overall pace and approach to the events are somehow able to alleviate the effects of those.

I should mention before I finish something about Mühe’s performance, which stands out above the rest. First thing you think when you see him for the first time on screen is that he is Kevin Spacey’s German brother. Then you think he is a good actor, able to communicate the melancholic aura that surrounds his character, his bittersweetness, his integrity, even when he is standing still and quiet. By the end of the movie you think the character was made for him, it definitely fits him like a glove.

Overall, an interesting German movie, probably the best teutonic production in years. Not based on true events but with a wink in the end to those who make movies based on novels written by the protagonists of the real events.

As a note, and without devaluing the lives of others, I wonder what would have happened in the Oscars if in pan’s labyrinth (2006) the good guys were not red.

For the deadhours of those who like to gossip about their neighbors.

deadrate: γood

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