A morality tale about human dignity: THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Rating: 9/10 (3 October 2009)

It was hard to live on the other side of the wall in East Berlin in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the German Democratic Republic, better known as DDR. Hard in a country where freedom of expression is inevitably challenged by a bully seeking to threaten any form of legitimacy. Be the least suspected of going against the party, could jeopardize their lives forever. The price was very high, and especially for intellectuals was living in this suffocating atmosphere of constant tension, as people of culture were the most frequently considered as possible conspirators. Proponent of this disturbing "McCarthyism backwards" was the Stasi, the state police, which with its numerous agents scattered throughout the morbidly crept into the lives of others, collecting fragments of everyday life, the frantic search for subtle clues that can can destroy a life, isolating indefinitely. This is the work you do Gerd Wiesler, the Stasi captain unyielding, icy eyes and attitude severe. One day he is ordered to spy on the famous writer George Dreyman at his home, as it may be a dissident. Wiesler then from his position of control begins to take the role of interlocutor. The first feature of the novice Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck is an undisputed masterpiece. It is primarily a film for his unsettling topicality. In times like this where the violation of privacy is relentless oppression, "The Lives of Others" is necessary to shake the conscience. A crude metaphor concerning contamination spreads to levels paroxysmal, like wildfire as a terrible epidemic: the Stasi through its microscopic settlements. Parasite. Inanimate being able to take nourishment only through the domination of living organisms immersed in their peaceful habitat. A constant threat, active and never worn. "The Lives of Others" is an intense film, realistic and never redundant: very good Henckel Von Donnersmarck that propels us into a specific historical context, never a show those events, unlike other directors who use history to romanticize silly fiction. "The Lives of Others" has the great merit of calligraphy are never, even in the final sequence after the collapse of the wall, nor ever falls into rhetoric. Directed lucid and simple (absent virtuosity space fields, reverse shot, extreme close-ups important) ensure an atmosphere of unrelenting coldness to the film, in full harmony with the troubled air that you breathe in those years. Prey to paranoia, uncontrollable, incurable physical and psychological abuse, the man conscious of no longer master of himself, he tries to put a stop to all this: that is Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe that provides an extraordinary eye) tired subjection of psychology and existential bleakness which is limited, based on pre-cooked meals and embraces a fee, he decided to change was a turning point in his life, taking a key role within the situation. "The Lives of Others" is a morality tale about human dignity, the tangible proof that despite the abuse that a totalitarian regime imposes humanity of the individual surfaces, and the burden of consciousness has a decisive role, because a dictatorship can annihilate the mind and body, but not the soul. The essence of ourselves involves the consequences of actions we do. Excellent screenplay never verbose, striking suspense that never falls in rhythm, exceptional performers. And in the end, in the blue eyes of Wiesler once menacing but now full of goodness, finally glimpsed a glimmer of hope and redemption for mankind. Moving.