We in Britain have had a period of unprecedented peace, freedom and prosperity in the last 60 years, so it is easy to forget that parts of Europe very near us have not been so lucky. The Lives of Others reminds us that up until 1989, half of Germany was under the heel of a very repressive regime; East Germany was an Orwellian nightmare of suspicion, fear, and knocks on the door in the middle of the night, and all in shades of beige and grey. By expertly telling the story of a few characters, the director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has managed to at once dig up the ghosts of the past for the German people, and exorcise them somewhat. Setting aside the political aspects, this is still an excellent human story of quiet heroism.
Set in the early 1980s, the film focuses on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), the most successful playwright in the GDR. In fact, he is the only playwright in the GDR, since the Communist Party has deemed all others enemies of the state, forcing them to defect or go into excile. He has his leading lady, Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck) for a lover, and friends in high places. Everything is going swimmingly for him until Christa-Maria catches the eye of a leading party official, who sets the Stasi on Georg. It is the job of Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) to monitor his every move and listen to his every conversation, anything to find an indiscretion. The lives of these two men are to become intwined in a carefully crafted and very moving way.
Highlights of a great cast start with Koch, who so impressed in Zwarteboek (Black Book). Not good-looking in the conventional sense, there is still something magnetic about him; he plays the slightly bohemian, yet-still-trying-to-tow-the-party-line, Dreyman with just the right mix of confidence and uncertainty. Mühe (Kevin-Spacey-as-Lex-Luthor’s double) gives a subtle and measured performance as the shy Stasi man. So subtle and measured, in fact, that it was sometimes hard to follow what he was doing and why (my only criticism of the film, and a small one at that as the story unfolds). Gedeck creates a strong and intelligent character who is more than a love interest, something I fear is rare in English-language cinema.
The Lives of Others deservedly won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar this year. It is a ode to the man who quietly makes a difference, who makes sacrifices and doesn’t ask for recognition. By bringing light to East Germany’s murky history, it has brought up the uncomfortable truth that people were giving up their friends and loved ones to the Secret Police only twenty years ago. By telling this one tale, many people will now feel free to tell their own.
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