overrated artificial kitsch, I'm sorry to say

Rating: 4/10 (26 December 2008)

I must say that ever since watching this picture I felt that it was grossly overrated, mainly because of its artistic limitations and because I felt that it does no justice to its hype.
While the Stasi investigation methods portrayed here are definitely correct and meticulously researched by the director for a period of (reportedly) 1.5 years, the characters come across as extremely shallow. It looks as if the director/script writer first picked up a certain Stasi lingo/ investigatory framework and then built his film around that, rather than working from existing characters. That gives the story a decidedly artificial feel.
Therefore none of the figures really convinced me, safe Ulrich Mühe's lead of course. Yet this Swan-Lake-like performance of a brilliant actor who already knew that he was terminally ill at the time of the shoot may raise this film out of the realm of the ordinary, but it still has all the makings of a sophisticated TV movie rather than a theatrical release. Also, as someone who grew up (in part) in East Germany, I must say that the portrayal of a state-endorsed writer appears to be intolerably naive, and that in order to achieve such a rank, it would have been quite necessary to sell out on your colleagues way before this painful choice presents itself in the movie. And, pardon me, but Sebastian Koch is a TV actor, and a pretty bad one at that.
Worst of all, the sappy soundtrack by otherwise fondly remembered Gabriel Yared transforms the already debatable historical drama into mere kitsch - the music feels like glue at times. It would seem that it was precisely this kitsch-cliché aspect which made this film such a success with American critics and aged intellectuals, but for German audiences (at least me and my friends) it added to a calculated shallowness that may serve to win an Academy Award, but doesn't really do justice to its subject. The director's follow-up 'The Tourist' has been rightfully criticized for pretty much the same reasons given here, so hopefully the undue support for this film will be reconsidered.