A Beautiful Statement About Humanity Triumphing Over Oppression

Rating: 10/10 (26 February 2007)

This superb, gripping film tells the story of a celebrated playwright, Georg Dreyman (played subtly by Sebastian Koch) living in the stifling oppression of the German Democratic Republic in the early 1980s, who is put under surveillance by a cabinet minister who loves Dreyman's girlfriend, the ill-fated Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), and wants an excuse to ruin Dreyman's life. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe, giving the film's best performance) is assigned surveillance duties, and stakes himself out in the attic of Dreyman's apartment building, listening in on Dreyman's conversations and numerous intimacies. Dreyman is not a subversive, at least not in deed, until a beloved friend in the theatre commits suicide because of a ruined career brought about by the GDR officials. This loss compels Dreyman to action, and he writes a scathing indictment of the GDR which he publishes anonymously in a West German liberal magazine. Wiesler knows that Dreyman is the author, but has become so fascinated by Dreyman and his life, and so doubtful as to the moral motives of the GDR, that instead of turning Dreyman into the authorities, he becomes his secret accomplice.
"The Lives of Others" begins solidly but unremarkably. I enjoyed the first half hour or so of the film, but wasn't heavily involved in it. But it works a kind of intense, gradual spell, and before I realized it, I was engrossed in this story and cared deeply about how it would end. A plot summary makes it sound like a highbrow soap opera, or like something we've seen before, but it's not either of these things. It's a thematically rich film anchored by a strong central character in Wiesler. He's fascinated by Dreyman's life -- his artistic abilities, his circle of friends and the stimulus of freely shared ideas, the love and companionship he shares with an attractive woman -- but it's Wiesler who for us becomes the fascinating character. We see his life juxtaposed to Dreyman's -- coming home to an empty apartment, hiring a prostitute for a fleeting moment of intimacy -- and we understand exactly why he takes the actions he does throughout the film. His life is utterly lacking in any kind of artistic or intellectual freedom, and when he begins to fake reports about the goings on in Dreyman's apartment, making up entire episodes and even giving elaborate details about a fake play he claims Dreyman is writing, we see how just the tiny bit of freedom granted him to create something completely his own becomes the crack in the foundation of his loyalty to his superiors. It's a wonderful statement about the power of free thought to combat oppression, and at the same time a lovely story about simple human kindness. The ending especially is breathtaking in its sweet simplicity.
And as I'm a fan of film scores, let me say that this film has a marvelous one, especially the recurring passage of pulsing strings that drives the movie forward and creates all the hair-raising tension of a Hitchcock film.
Grade: A+