The Lives of Others

A spy drama with a difference.

In 1983 East Berlin, the East German secret police, the Stasi, are hard at work. Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler is dedicated to his job. He suspects the famous German playwright Georg Drehman is not loyal to the East German communist state. He is given clearance to investigate him and his lover, the beautiful actress Christa-Maria. Bugs are planted all around their apartment and Wiesler listens to every aspect of their lives. But as he learns more about the couple, he unexpectedly finds himself feeling sympathetic towards them. His loyalty to the state is put to the test when his superior Anton Grubitz pursues a relationship with Christa-Maria and wants Wiesler to implicate Drehman to get him out of the way.

Capturing the atmosphere of suspicion and fear that shrouded East Germany of the time, The Lives of Others is chillingly accurate. We follow the lives of Wiesler, Drehman and Christa-Maria and how they are affected by the restrictions of the East German state. However, it is Wiesler’s life that is the most fascinating. The film portrays him as an isolated, detached and as merely a tool of the state: the real life of a spy.

The Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Lives of Others is both thrilling and moving.

Jess Walker

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut, The Lives of Others, focuses on the horrifying system of observation in former East Germany, and the effect it had upon both the employees of the Stasi (the German Democratic Republic’s secret police) and citizens of the repressed nation.

Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mure) is a dangerously efficient, emotionally detached employee of the Stasi, with orders to seek out subversives. Introduced in a scene set in East Berlin in 1984, his emotional detachment is emphasised: a confession is obtained without direct physical torture, but by keeping the accused awake until information is obtained. The humourless civil servant is then recruited by school friend Lieutenant- Colonel Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), now head of the Stasi’s Cultural Development, to tarnish the career of Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch).

Dreyman is an intellectual star in the socialist state. Largely innocent of undermining the state, he merely seeks artistic freedom and the ability to exercise his democratic rights. However, Wiesler is told to embark upon a surveillance operation involving round-the-clock observation and the recording of everything for the organisation’s files, all in order to uncover any blemish in Dreyman’s socialist political stance. The reason: influential Minister, Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thime), aims to get closer to Dreyman’s girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck).

As empathy becomes a growing emotion for Wiesler, the film develops into a compelling illustration of the psychic toll incurred by a society obsessed with security. Wiesler begins to doubt the Stasi’s intentions, but will he risk his career and his life to protect the artist’s privacy?

Comparisons have been made between The Lives of Others and Francis Ford Coppola’s, The Conversation, through the sense of social unease, constant suspicion, and depiction of a society that turns citizens against each other in the interests of national security. The Lives of Others successfully creates tension throughout, and succeeds in its poignant addendum set after the fall of the Berlin wall. German cinema’s recent apologetic tone that provided The Downfall with such international success resonates throughout The Lives of Others: a must see for all fans of cinema.

James Cotton