Review - The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)

It is 1984. Perhaps from the context alone, you can see the Orwellian concepts evoked from Das Leben der Anderen. In a similar vein to Orwell's creation of the "Big Brother" or overarching power, in the setting of East Germany, the Statsi, acting as the secret police of the GDR, have the power. They observe and report, deal with traitors or critics of the regime swiftly, with the very notion of a moral compass derided. These Statsi observers watch suspects day and night, familiarising themselves with their subjects, or rather targets, whilst losing their own sense of self. But what would it be like if there were some change to this. Not from any outside force but from within. Is is possible for a man to change who he is to salvage the livelihood of someone else?
That is the question posed by the directorial debut of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who also wrote the film. It is a dissection of one man, Statsi operative H.G. Wiesler, a man with a cold efficiency, lack of emotion or care and who now has been put in charge of investigating a seemingly patriotic playwright, Georg Dreyman. We watch routine unfold, as Wiesler seizes complete surveillance of the life of this man, and to him it is but a job, nothing more, he is a 20 year veteran of his position. However, something changes within him, maybe it's his longing for the relationship Dreyman and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria, or maybe it's a change of ideology. This question is presented.

With the concept of a writer and the suppression of artistic materials, I was surprised at the level of dissection involving the arts and theatre within the film. There are references to German poetry, beautiful sonatas I found myself comparing the situation of the blacklisted director Jerska, very similar to that of Vsevolod Meyerhold, the Russian practitioner executed at the hands of Stalin's regime. I guess, in a somewhat ironic sense, it is referenced in the film that it was Stalin who said "The writer is the engineer of the human soul". In saying that, this is a film that captures the setting it is in, the secrecy, the darkness and the corruption of the elite.

The background of the film does not hide this history, with many of the cast and crew having personal conflicts with the GDR, most notably Ulrich Mühe, who has claimed that his ex-wife informed on him to the Statsi when they were in power in East Germany, citing a mass of government files detailing her co-operation.

The acting in this film is perfect. It truly is. Every character is perfect for their respective roles and they are all well-rounded characters, complete with aims and goals within the film. The main actors, that being Sebastian Koch as Dreyman, Martina Gedeck ad Christa-Maria and Ulrich Mühe as Wiesler are astounding, with Mühe in one of the greatest embodyments of change and human morality I have seen. Even the smaller characters, such as Thomas Thieme's Minister Hempf and one of my favourites, Hans-Uwe Bauer as Dreyman's close friend Paul Hauser, each have their own nuances that make every scene, most of which was laced with lengthy dialogue, a pleasure to watch.

One of the greatest things about this film is it's ability to contrast. Light and dark, good and bad, sadness and happiness. This contrast is greatest embodied between Dreyman and our observer. As we watch his drive home to his apartment, watch him sit alone at the television, after just witnessing the passion of artists we see his shell begin to crack. And whilst the observation of Dreyman is the main focus of the narrative, he is not the main character. That distinction is given to the observer, HGW XX/7, as he is known in his reports. His insular retreat is probably the most extroverted he has ever been, with one act of intervention causing a tumulus chain of events to unfold, in both his and Dreyman's lives.

My only grievances with the film were near the end. There was a plot twist, albeit small, that should have been dealt with better, whether it needed to be filmed better or the context changed I don't know. it just felt a bit rushed in the last 20min, like they were trying to fit in more than they should have. But hey, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2007, so I might be alone with that criticism. 4 stars.