The Lives Of Others Will Greatly Affect Yours

Rating: 10/10 (8 February 2010)

The film writing and directorial debut of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck "Das Leben der Anderen" (The Lives Of Others) is a German drama set in East Berlin in the last years of Communism in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Telling the tale of an artistic couple being continually watched, recorded and filmed by members of the "Stasi", the East German secret police, as he is suspected of creating subversive plays undermining the state and she is lusted after by a highly ranked official. Successfully nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for "Best Foreign Film", "The Lives Of Others" is a highly moral and politically charged film that will demand as much emotion and choice from its audience as it does from its protagonists.
While the directorial cinematography is lush and crisp, with "Donnersmarck" using subtle tones of greys and greens to emphasis the drab, bleak existence in East Germany it is the characterisation within the film that makes this such an engaging and emotional experience. The cast is led superbly by Ulrich Muhe who delivers a stunning performance as "Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler" who is charged with leading the investigation into the alleged deviants. He is backed up exceptionally by Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch as "Christa-Maria Sieland" and "Geog Dreyman", respectively, who provide the necessary emotional tension to pull entrap the audience. With all three of these performances, each has to deal with and convey different emotions on their moralistic standpoints, in differing fashions when their whole lives are threatened. Muhe finds himself increasingly involved and engrossed by the drama that is the lives of those he is watching, he finds his unwavering dedication to the Stasi to be brought into question when his reasoning is brought into doubt. Through watching and listening to the idealistic principles of the artistic couple beneath him, doubt slowly creeps into his conscious and he must begin to make a decision as to whether he can continue to justify harming the lives of innocent individuals. Sieland and Dreyman, however, must decide whether they can continue to live their lives as lies, will they sacrifice their artistic freedom to avoid persecution and interference from the state. "The Lives Of Others" skillfully leads us down their respective paths as we watch with hope, fear and trepidation at the choices they make.
What separates "The Lives Of Others" from contemporary dramas of the same styling is the subtlety with which the script has been written and the delivery of those underpinning emotions by the actors. The director builds up immense tension from scenes where very little action is taking place, whether it's Muhe simply listening to a telephone conversation through his headphones or Dreyman hiding a typewriter, Donnersmarck ratchets up the heart rate with such delicate ease. Each of the main protagonists delivers their own unique style of performance to enhance the enclosed feel of the investigation. Gedecks' "Sielands" fall from grace is a harrowing and heart breaking affair, as the demure and regal persona falls to reveal a fractured and pained woman, desperately fighting to save her acting career. Koch's "Dreyman" is almost the reversal of his female counterpart, starting off as somewhat of a shell, kowtowing to his communist masters yet internally yearning to express himself as he would want. His increased risky disposition is taken under the naive belief that the state have not got him under surveillance which of course leaves everything in the confused hands of Wiesler. From cold, hard calculating man who claims "the best way to establish guilt...is non-stop interrogation" to having to question himself as a human being, Wiesler's journey is the keystone which holds the rest in place and Muhe's understated motions of raising an eyebrow here to pursing his lips tell so many stories of his internal strife and is an absolute joy to behold.
"The Lives Of Others" is an exceptional film that is not merely worthy of 2007's "Best Foreign Film" Academy Award but of claims that it is perhaps not simply the greatest film of that year, but of the decade as a whole. It in itself is an absolute joke that this and "Pan's Labyrinth" weren't in the "Best Picture" category regardless of their origins, because the skill with which the director and his cast weave their intricate web and have you riveted as an audience, is an art form to never grow tired of. Donnersmarck's debut is a thoroughly engaging affair that highlights not just European cinema, but cinema as a whole. It is a life affirming experience that will warm your heart and bring a tear to your eye, it will have you utterly entranced for its duration and will leave a mark on your character. The tale of others' lives, their strife, their desires, their wants and their dreams is an experience that will greatly affect yours.