Unlike an American thriller, ‘The Lives of Others’ is an effective and spine tingling political thriller – but without a single special effect, fight sequence or car chase!
Writer director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck scores a hit with his searing indictment of life in East Berlin, 1984, before the wall fell.
The government employed 100,000 Stasi or secret police, which had 200,000 informants under its jurisdiction. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat was to be safeguarded at any cost.
The secret police’ goal was ‘to know everything’ about its people and identify who might undermine the totalitarian status quo.
The GDR, the German Democratic Republic (the former East Germany) was the Soviet sector of Berlin run under martial law – no democracy about it. Surveillance of citizens was widespread and assumed.
George Orwell aside, it was a terrible time and place – no liberty, no hope, just the necessity to play the game. Escape to the West was a dream that killed many people.
This particular tale takes place in the arts world –a playwright, an actress and their friends have successful careers, they’re talented, but more importantly, they tow the government line.
Georg Dreyman (Sebastien Koch) is the only writer trusted by the Stasi, and he earns his rewards. His productions are triumphs and he is promoted as an important national asset, proof that such a country could nurture a creative artist. He is sure he is not under surveillance.
The suicide of a dear friend and respected playwright, blackballed for critiquing the state, awakens Dreyman’s rebellion.
It finally becomes clear to him that the ordinary citizen lives in dread, fearful of a corrupt secret police force that infiltrates every family, every individual’s life, gunning for anyone who wants change or wants out.
Dreyman looks further into his friend’s death and discovers that the GDR keeps no record of suicides after 1977, although it obsessively lists every other matter concerning its citizens.
He decides to write an article about the unusually high number of suicides in East Berlin, which seem to be linked to the government. He will have the article smuggled into West Berlin and publish it for the world to see.
The film’s depiction of the oppressive government and its passionate disregard of its citizens is horrific. No one, including the police, was immune from suspicion and every person was at the mercy of the whims and vendettas of the ‘bigwigs’. However, the film allows for the humane hidden in the bad guys and the evil that lurks in the good guys.
Von Donnersmarck’s startling film won eleven German Film Awards nominations, more than any other film in the academy’s history.
And deservedly so – it is realistic and naturalistic, a supple story told on a human scale. It’s all in his powers of observation and skilled interpretations. He tells a riveting story and pays tribute to those who lived there at that time.
Lives of Others
Opens February 9 limited USA MPAA: Rated R for some sexuality/nudity
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