Orwell that ends well

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2007)

Edmund Burke wrote that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. "The Lives of Others" shows the corollary: all that is necessary for the defeat of evil is that good men do something. Indeed, the musical leitmotiv for the film is called "Sonata for a Good Man".
Imagine (if you will) that, in George Orwell's "1984", instead of spying on and betraying Winston Smith and Julia, Charrington the junk-shop dealer -- or perhaps O'Brien himself -- commits thoughtcrime, defies Big Brother and the principles of Ingsoc, and acts to protect the two rebels.
You would then have the basic premise and scenario for "The Lives of Others", Germany's entry for Best Foreign Film of 2006, which significantly is set in 1984, not years in the future, but the here-and-now present.
"The Lives of Others" narrates how a servant of the state becomes increasingly aware of its intrinsic evil, and risks not only his career but indeed his freedom, to help subvert and overthrow the system.
This film about East Germany's state police (the Stasi) explores the philosophical and ethical issues in far greater depth, and with far more emotional resonance, than "Breach", an American film of the same year that limits itself to mere spy-versus-spy intrigue.
It is instructive and ironic that the film begins with an explanatory note about the atmosphere that prevailed in 1984, when Glasnost (openness) had not yet begun in the former Soviet Union and its satellite countries, and the Berlin Wall had not yet fallen. For those of my generation who remember that fateful event, no such explanation is necessary. For those who had not yet been born, no such explanation is adequate.