A Knife to Nostalgia (The Lives Of Others (DVD))

Member Name: Puggers

Product:	The Lives Of Others (DVD)
Date:	03/07/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Impeccable performances, mesmering plotting and direction; historically significant.

Disadvantages: Almost none.

The German term "Ostalgie", referring to a sense of nostalgia for the East, has manifested itself throughout the country's culture in the years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall (part of the period known as die Wende, or "the change"). Music and memorabilia have reflected the fondness for the past, as has film; Goodbye Lenin (2004) perhaps chief amongst them. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others), however, is very much a counterpoint to this mindset.

Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's debut film is a sharply-observed, quietly devastating depiction of the darker side of former East Germany, examining the power of the Stasi (the secret police of the German Democratic Republic) to make and break the lives of its citizens. Georg Dreyman is a talented writer, his wife Christa-Maria a promising actress. The two, however, move in dangerous circles, associating with liberals and western sympathisers blacklisted by the Party. Unbeknownst to them, these activities have attracted attention, and all that happens and is said in their bugged flat is seen and heard by party official Gerd Wiesler, taking notes at his bleak listening-station.

The longer he listens, however, the more Wiesler begins to sympathise with the couple, especially when he discovers that Hempf, a senior party minister, covets Christa-Maria, and the surveillance is purely a means to dig up enough dirt to dispose of her partner. Soon, he hears all he needs to hear to incriminate Dreyman, but disillusioned with his own party, is faced with a choice - to do his duty and report the offences, surrendering what he believes is right, or to cover up the writer's actions, risking himself for a stranger.

This moral struggle powers the Lives of Others, and is brought powerfully to life by the late Ulrich Muhe (Wiesler). Watching his passive face and unflinching dedication at the film's outset, we get a sense of the man; a middle-ranking official who has trained himself not to question the rights and wrongs of the surveillance he performs.

To centre the film around Muhe's character is an inspired move; by choosing a figure who works for the "bad guys" (insomuch as anyone fills the role), and depicting his slide into betrayal of his position, the film manages to straddle the divide it depicts, and avoids polarising characters as overtly righteous or evil. The film is all the more potent for its ability to convey how even those in power suffered as a result of the prevailing regime.

Muhe's performance is a masterclass of understatement, a perfect fit for a film that shows the undercurrent of whispered paranoia and damning suspicion that the Stasi oversaw. There is no great excess in this film, no over-the-top action or melodrama, only a growing sense of tension and dangerous glimpses of hope as Wiesler treads an ever-more precarious line. Muhe, sitting in his drab basement, is able to express so much of this even as he says little - few films have seen such an impeccable performance from a protagonist, and few actors have held the screen so strongly with so few words.

Visually, the film reflects the performances; Wiesler's listening post is dark, bleak and unadorned with decoration, themes that are carried through much of the movie, with occasional splashes of colour and life surrounding Dreyman and Christa-Maria. The closely-monitored pair play a crucial role in the film, and deliver turns fitting of their importance; Dreyman's efforts to make the outside world aware of the truth about the GDR representative of a brighter future for the country, Christa-Maria emblematic of a fear to reach for this.

A slow-burning effort that proceeds at a pensive, unhurried pace, The Lives of Others invests time in building up its characters and cranking up the tension. As such, when the shocking events of the finale are released, we feel the personal tragedies of those involved as keenly as we are repulsed by the indifference of the powers-that-be. As neatly-executed and sharply realised as the ending is, however, director von Donnersmarck also makes the well-judged decision to add on a postscript of bittersweet optimism and deeply affecting poignancy, closing out the film perfectly.

The Lives of Others is about as good as cinema gets; both an expertly-crafted thriller that explores concepts of loyalty and selflessness and an incisive, important record of a time not so long lost. The film has attracted criticism for focusing too much on the tale of Hempf's corruption - the claim being that both honest and dishonest officials presided over similarly disturbing practices, and that this approach somehow weakens the condemnation of the Stasi. For me, though, the film is presented as only one story amongst many - an exploration of the way in which large-scale events also affect lives on a very individual level.

Prior to Sydney Pollack's death, there was considerable talk of his leading a Hollywood remake of the film, which seems incomprehensible. Aside from being a German film set in Germany, chronicling strictly German events, and hence hardly being appropriate for an American makeover, there's just nothing here that could conceivably be improved upon. The performances, direction, pace and plotting add up to something approaching a perfect film - and a steadying counter-balance to rose-tinted Ostalgie.

Summary: A tale of suspicion, spying and freedom of speech in former East Germany.