"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2007)

By 1984, East Germany had been gripped for almost four decades in a Stalinist reign of terror. Since 1971, it was headed by Erich Honecker, the builder of the Berlin Wall. The Wall and its architect were toppled almost simultaneously. Wanted for war crimes, unwelcome even in Yeltsin's Russia, Honecker was extradited from Moscow to a now-unified Germany in 1992. Shortly after the onset of his murder trial, for health reasons, he was released to Chile in 1993. At the time, Chile was still protective of aging, bloody former dictators, whether U.S. or Soviet-sponsored. Like Pinochet, he died in disgrace.
In "Lives," beginning in 1984, East German secret police (Stasi) inquisitor Hauptmann (Captain) Gerd Wiesler wrestles with a similar dilemma as did Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984."
Although this film is a gripping exposition of the corruption, dehumanization and immorality of that actual former totalitarian state, in these times of Ashcroft and Gonzales, Bush and Cheney, it should be cautionary to U.S. residents as well.
Pay particular attention to the cast of characters in the "steam room" during the announcement of the fall, five years after the movie begins.
And mind what you say. Big Brother is watching you too.