A Quiet, Meticulous, Well-Made Thriller

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2016)

In the very first minutes of The Lives of Others, the unassuming Captain Gerd Wiesler (Muhe) sits in a small office interrogating a prisoner of the East German Stasi. He records his progress on tape and within hours Wiesler exhausts his prisoner to the point of confession, The tape stops; Wiesler is in a classroom teaching pupils at the university how to do the same. Within those first minutes we get a strong impression of his character; calculated, reserved and above all meticulous. It's those traits along with his dedication to Communism that make him a perfect surveillance man, at least according to Grubitz (Tukur) his supervisor.
After attending a show by the popular playwright Georg Dreyman (Koch), Wiesler and Grubitz take an interest in the internationally acclaimed artist. A nationalist, a pro-Communist and loyal to the government; he must be up to no good figures the curious Wiesler. With the coaxing of the Minister of Culture (Thieme), Wiesler sets up a surveillance operation in the attic of Dreyman's apartment complex and places bugs throughout his abode. It is only after weeks of listening does Wiesler realize the Minister has an interest in Dreyman's mistress Christa (Gedeck). Grubitz sees room for advancement if they manage to find dirt on the playwright but Wiesler becomes enveloped in the complex and intriguing lives of Dreyman and Christa. Wiesler even starts to participate quietly in the shadows, making decisions that could change the fate of all involved forever.
The essence of The Lives of Others script is essentially political. The workings of the Stasi serve its own self-survival by becoming a tool of Ministers and party elites. What matters more isn't the innocence or guilt of those who commit crimes against the State but whether those under suspicion have the political clout to protect themselves. Those who don't have two remedies, arrest or suicide. It is in-fact a suicide that initiates Dreyman's disillusionment with the entire system and kicks the torrent of dramatics into high gear. That and Christa's abusive relationship with the Minister.
Yet there's something much deeper and beautiful about the story than merely being a manifesto against big brother. The acting is so nuanced and superb that the characters become the focal point of audience emotional investment and story tension. Ulrich Muhe especially deserves praise as a foil to Sebastian Koch's Dreyman. Both become disillusioned but for opposite reasons. While Dreyman starts seeing the forest through the trees sort to speak, Wiesler starts seeing people as people instead of abstractions or obstacles of a Communist ideal.
There was much ado about The Lives of Others winning Best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards over the heavy favorite Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Both are beautifully rendered political parables with tenacious emotional strength yet while one has a sense of exhaustive grandeur and filigree, the other is muted, meticulous, and pensive in its plotting. While some may balk at the thought of a reticent thriller, The Lives of Others uses its less ostentatious style to its advantage as evidenced by the dark green mis en scene of Stasi HQ, the faded warmth of Dreyman's apartment and the sooty grays of the attic where Wiesler quietly listens.