A "Casablanca" for Our Times

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2007)

"The Lives of Others" reminded me of no film so much as "Casablanca." But there are differences: we are pretty sure of Rick's essential decency early on, in spite of his tough talk and cynicism, which he wears lightly. Even the love of his life will not send him into the camp of those who put little value on either love or life.
We are not so sure about Wiesler, the Stasi interrogator who is ordered to spy on an otherwise "politically reliable" playwright and his mistress in the East Germany of the 1980's. Wiesler, who has the face of a monk, is a true believer of the state he serves and its mission to ferret out dissidents and malcontents--particularly those who would flee to the west or embarrass the GDR in some way.
What we see is the gradual unfolding of a rigid man's moral sense, previously in thrall to a totalitarian ideology which he has convinced himself is "humanistic," as he phrases it in his introductory scene. His surveillance of the couple quickly uncovers the role Culture Minister Hempf--a pig-faced villain who would be comic were he not also a rapist-- plays in it. From that point on his allegiance begins to shift, as his "masters" prove themselves unworthy of his devotion to his work. We see the first sign of this in the scene with the child on the elevator.
This is a movie about redemption, like "16 Blocks." It is a story that has been told many times but somehow never gets stale. Likewise it is one always worth retelling.