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This critically-acclaimed, Oscar®-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) is the erotic, emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls "a nail-biter of a thriller!" Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany’s population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman, were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg’s stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer’s apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives - as well as his - in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is "the best kind of movie: one you can’t get out of your head."
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Reviews:
Melancholy film perfectly captures the lonely despair of urban communism
"The Lives of Others," a German film laden with well-deserved accolades and awards, captures the lonely despair that was urban communism in the 1980s. Writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has created a minor masterpiece with this work - it stands next to the novel "Gorky Park" as an elegant indictment of the worst evil of the Communist Eastern Bloc - their societies depended upon turning their citizens against each other.
"The Lives of Others" closely examines the toll such a society takes on both the watched and the watchers. An accomplished policeman has dedicated himself to the State. Ruthless and efficient, he is the guy who breaks the unbreakable, learns the unlearnable. He is a man of exacting dedication to principle. But to master his craft, he has denied himself virtually all of life's pleasures. His life is empty except when he is at work.
And then one day he is charged with investigating a charming writer - a favored son of East Germany. After bugging the man's flat (shared by the writer's charming wife), the policeman sits in to listen. This he does for weeks, and he comes to admire this all-too-human couple.
Why is he, this most principled of men, investigating them? For a thoroughly unprincipled reason, of course: because a corrupt government official has the hots for the wife and wants to trump up a charge against the husband to get him out of the way.
"The Lives of Others" is a slow-moving film, but it draws you in as it builds to a shattering climax and a surprisingly humanistic note as two people who should never have shared anything quietly share the most special of bonds. This is a Darn Good Film.
A Modern Classic that's even better in BluRay
I had purchased the standard-definition version earlier and was impressed by what is one of the best European films of the decade. The BluRay version is icing on the cake.
"The Lives of Others" is a modern classic that represents the pragmatic yet humane face of Germany today; a tribute the Germany's artistic and intellectual maturity as reflected in Donnersmarck's brilliant script and film.
The work is a damning indictment of the insane Cold War ideology that infected not only East Germany, but the entire communist Bloc. It should be required viewing for all limosine, trust-funded Marxists and petty beaurocrats. The very same soulless cabal who, ominously, have now set their sights on America.
Repetitive, Boring, and Vacuuous
Though this film won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the average moviegoer will be bored beyond belief. There have been other reviews calling it a "stunning suspense thriller" and I wonder if we were all watching the same movie. No doubt it is artistic, subtly played with the minutiae of detail, but I was overwhelmed by the monotonous drone of the narration (in English). slowness of the plot, browns and greens in every scene. If you have insomnia this is the movie to put you to sleep.
Set in East Berlin, Germany in the year 1984 it runs through 1991. The spy is the center of the movie. His acting is minimal so the audience projects what is going on in his mind. The writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck uses obtuse, vague, non-expressive acting from Ulrich Muhe (who plays Captain Gerd Weisler - starring role). The narration is repetitive and confusing - you wonder if he is directing a play or listening in on other people's lives - it was not clear for some time. The movie is two and a half hours long and it could easily have been one hour.
The plot was contrived - there is a massive leap of of faith to believe an the German Democratic Republic (GDR) would give an entire group of GDR Stasi (a vast network of informers) resources and paid full time to spy on a patriotic artist, well liked by the public and the state, and not worried about arresting the Western spies that were prevalent at the time
Pleasantly Surprised
This movie was one of many foreign films that I ordered, and I was happy that I did. I guess many countries have their own 'McCarthy' moments in history. Not until the very end did I realize why this movie won an Oscar.
A MUST SEE!!!!
For those of you who said this movie isn't worth seeing, I don't think you know a good movie when you see one. I watched this movie in my English class and at first I thought the movie was going to be a boring foreign film not to mention irratating with the subtitles and all. But this film was amazing, the actors were great and the plot as well. I believe it deserved every award and I recommend watching it.
Subtitles aren't for everyone but this movie is worth watching.
