By Listening to The Lives of Others, One Man Rediscovered His Own

Rating: 10/10 (6 April 2012)

I know little about Germany, GDR, and their history altogether. And to be frank, all I ever cared from Germany is their movies, the good ones of course. I'm a huge fan of Brazil since I was young, so I never cared about Germany's national football team. But their movies are a different story.
I encountered this movie by chance, when I found out Pan's Labyrinth didn't win the Oscar For Best Foreign Language. Now, the Oscar made a mistake countless times in almost every major categories. For one, I'm still baffled to this day that Amélie received major snubbing in many categories from the Academy. So when I found out there was a German movie called Das Leben der Anderen that beat Pan's Labyrinth, I was determined to see the movie for myself. And boy, was it worth it! Among many movies not made in the English language that received the Best Foreign Language Oscar on the last decade (2000-2009), this must be the most deserving.
Set only 4 years before The Fall of Berlin Wall, this movie is far from your standard political thriller filled with boring conversations and endless conspiracies. No, there is no action scene at all in this movie, but the tension was there, the story was existent, the protagonists were 'human', and even the antagonists were realistic. It was more like a human drama to me. It is not about how this guy solves mission A or this guy solves mission B, no. It's more about how a hardened soldier rediscover where his heart was by listening to how others share theirs.
Gerd Wiesler was an experienced Captain and interrogator Stasi, GDR's Secret Police, with 20 years worth of service. A very hardened veteran inside & outside, he is the guy you don't wanna mess with. No one could topple him in the interrogation table. He knew how the break his targets, what their weaknesses were, and what would push their buttons. He knew human psychology like the palm of his hand. But in his personal life, he was no more than a loner. No wife, no kids, no friends, no human contact at all. All he ever did in his apartment was eating some meals, watching random TV shows, and inviting prostitute to take care of his sexual needs.
But his life changed forever when he was assigned a mission to spy on a playwright and his girlfriend, a stage actress, whom his higher ups believe to secretly stand against the socialism beliefs the government of GDR upheld. At first, it seemed like it was just going to be another mission for him. Another one of those jobs that was going to end soon not long after it began. But day by day, week after week, as Wiesler heard & watched how they live, how they share their love, and how they handle their distress, he felt like he was a part of their community. After 20 years of loneliness, there was a sense of wanting to be need, wanting to have something more than just missions. He began to feel like he was one of them. That sympathy reached its peak when he found out his current targets were actually innocent and he was assigned to this mission only so his superiors could receive personal achievement, something he greatly disliked because he believed the party he served for as long as he could remember were driven by heartless & egoistical people. Only then, he started to rediscover his heart, which he neglected long ago. Little by little, he became human again. And all this leads to a poignant conclusion.
The late Ulrich Mühe gave what may very well be the greatest performance in his career as Gerd Weisler in the best movie he has ever been in. He said more in his silence than in his words. His eyes alone spoke what he felt inside his heart. His actions were louder than his words. None of his actions felt forced, each and every one of it was genuine. He really showed the transformation of his character to become human. The rest of the casts did an outstanding job as well, especially Sebastian Koch who played the writer. He was successful on making his character likable, but without making it look weak.
All in all, this is a very powerful & human drama. I agree this is one of the best movies of the last decade. And to me personally, this is so far the best German movie I have ever seen in my life. 10/10. Eternally recommended!