How the other half lived...

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2007)

A marvellous feature, completely drawing the viewer into the gray, grubby world of state surveillance employed in the East German state prior to the collapse of Communism in 1989. The movie portrays the emotional journey of a cold hearted Stasi officer, played brilliantly by the late Ulrich Muhe, ruthlessly efficient in spying and interrogation techniques, who finds that his latest operation, the scrutiny of a suspected rebel playwright and his actress wife, unexpectedly humanises him to the point where he turns against his masters but not before tragedy befalls the couple. The recreation of the soul-less streets of mid 80's East Berlin seems entirely life-like, where every day bland state-sponsored TV attempts to neutralise individual expression of its citizens in a way that George Orwell only imagined some 40 years earlier. The ensemble acting is excellent, especially Muhe in the key role of the worm that turns, his face moving from an emotion-less blank canvas to anguished self-loathing as he transfers allegiance at the film's low-key but marvellously effective climax. All told, you really do feel that this is a slice of life you're watching and not fiction, my only gripe might be the that the writer could perhaps have made his point better by taking as the central subjects a more mundane couple than the slightly rarified examples of a distinguished writer and his famous actress wife. But for a sentiment-free picture of the de-humanising impact of Soviet Bloc tyranny this film is an important and ultimately uplifting testament.