THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Das Leben der Anderen)

Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Sony Pictures Classics
Grade: A-
Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Written By: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muehe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich
Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Uwe Bauer, Herbert Knaup, Volkmar
Kleinert, Matthias Brenner, Charly Huebner
Screened at: Sony, NYC, 10/23/06
Opens: February 16, 2007

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film, "The Lives of Others,"
is so deftly written it can be compared to Bert Brecht's political
plays ("Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny," for example)
and Costa-Gavras's political thrillers ("Z," as a case). There's a
difference however. Donnersmarck is anti-Communist, while
Costa-Gavras at least leans heavily to the left in his works about
the abuses of power. And Brecht, despite (or because of)
his visit to New York could not wait to get back to
his beloved East Berlin.

Donnersmarck then, might be compared more to George Orwell
("1984") and Howard Fast ("The God That Failed"), both
novelists who dealt with the disastrous effects wrought by
Communist regimes. "Lives" is talky, but the talk is of a high
and entertaining order. The film is absolutely gripping from the
get-go, given its impeccable ensemble performances. We're
shown members of the East German Socialist apparatus as
complex figures, as are those who lose their souls by betraying
their loved ones. East Germany, specifically those in power in
East Berlin from 1945 to the breaking down of the Wall in 1989,
was ruled by use of the carrot and the stick. Informers were
given special privileges (and there were allegedly 200,000 of
those in the country) while those working directly for the secret
police, known as the Stasi (100,000, we hear), had jobs with
chances for advancement in the Party.

If anyone in the ensemble could be called the story's center, that
would be Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe), a middle-
ranking member of the Stasi who projects an Eichmann-like
image and who does not crack a smile throughout the
engrossing tale. We're in 1984, five years before the collapse
of the Berlin Wall. Ulrich, a solitary figure, is so devoted to The
Cause that he has no problem devoting long shifts to listening to
conversations taking place within the wired room of a
playwright. (Watching the Stasi agent with the big earphones
evokes memories of Eichmann in Jerusalem, behind the
bulletproof shell, listening to translations of testimony that would
ultimately condemn him.) Hearing that Georg Dreyman
(Sebastian Koch) is the only playwright around who is loyal to
the regime and not subversive, he is determined to spy on the
dramatist, as though refusing to believe that any intellectual
could be pro-Communist.

Dreyman's girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), a
gifted actress who lives for her profession, is forced to make
nice with the grotesque Minister of Cultural Affairs, Bruno Hempf
(Thomas Thieme) lest the Stasi bar her from ever performing
again. To get the playwright out of the way, the Minister orders
Wiesler, through Wiesler's supervisor, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz
(Ulrich Tukur), to pin something on the man. (One is reminded,
of course, of II Sam.11-12. David, intent on getting Bathsheba's
husband out of the way, sends Uriah to the battlefield to die in
order to enjoy the poor man's wife himself.)

The metamorphosis: while the previously loyal playwright begins
to see cracks in the way the regime is conducting itself, the
ever-trustworthy Stasi officer, Wiesler, is beginning to see how
he has been selling out to a soulless regime. The story traces
the steps by which each man slowly changes his views, the
stereotypical Party faithful bearing witness to what novelist
Howard Fast called the God that fails.

With a virtual absence of physical action but with a surfeit of
acting talent, strong direction, a solid script and Hagen
Bogdanski's lensing in drab greens to reflect Communist
austerity, "The Lives of Others," or as the film is titled in German
"Das Leben der Anderen," is stunning, even electrifying. The
film won seven German Lola's, the German Oscars–for film,
director, screenplay, actor (Ulrich Muehe), supporting actor and
production design. The judgment of the Germans who
bestowed these awards cannot be faulted.

Not Rated. 137 minutes 2007 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online