Fantastic and intriguing (The Lives Of Others (DVD))

Member Name: llamass

Product:	The Lives Of Others (DVD)
Date:	24/05/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gripping and thought-provoking

Disadvantages: long

The Lives of Others (German title: Das Leben der Anderen) is an absorbing account of 4 lives in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that is intriguing and subtly unsettling.

The premise of the film starts with committed believer in the East German regime and stasi (secret police) captain Gerd Wiesler asks his former classmate and subordinate Anton Grubitz to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland. The film focuses of the development of sympathetic feelings by Grubitz towards his subject and the entanglement of opposing loyalties, betrayal and the dreadful fear of living under such a regime are played out.

For a thriller there is not a lot of action and the plot unfolds subtly and slowly. However, whilst not much is happening I was still on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. The lack of action is clever in outlining that whilst citizens of the GDR may not have always been in chased or fearful for their lives, the oppressive knowledge of surveillance and threat hanging above their heads can be as effective in crushing spirits.

All of the four main characters are beautifully played and in particular Ulrich Tukur playing Grubitz skillfully presents a character who is understated yet torn apart by internal debate.

The film is long (2 hours and 20 minutes) and occasionally feels like it is being dragged out. Towards the end although I was still intrigued by the plot, I was hoping that it would come to a conclusion soon.

Summary: Stunning film that presents the subtle difficulties of life under the stasi