Student Film Review: The Lives of Others By Matt Arnoldi

The Lives of Others (15)
Dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Martina Gedek, Ulrich Muhe, Sebastian Koch & Ulrich Tukur

Deserved winner of the Foreign Film Oscar for 2007, The German film The Lives of Others is set in 1984, East Germany, it’s a tense and gripping thriller about the suspicions of the repressive GDR regime which sought to ensure that its subjects were towing the party line and not thinking of defecting to the West.

Its incredible to think such a world existed across the Berlin Wall and also that it was alive and kicking only 23 years ago.

In terms of the plot, Lt Col Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) heads the Culture department at the State Security and he invites his chief security captain Gerd Weisler (Ulrich Muhe) along to see a new play by a talented but bohemian playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch). Minister Hempf (Thomas Thieme) is also at the performance and at the party afterwards, he takes a shine to Dreyman’s girlfriend, lead actresss Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). Following the performance, Hempf decides he wants to bed Sieland and wants Dreyman out of the picture so he asks for him to be put under round-the-clock surveillance in the hope of finding Dreyman has broken the Party rules and can disappear into the prison system.

His top man Weisler is put in charge of the surveillance operation and having seen the ruthlessness in which Weisler operates, you feel Dreyman is going to have to tread carefully to avoid detention and interrogation but gradually you begin to observe a slight weakening in the resolve of Weisler, a questioning of the party line and the methods employed by the State.

Meanwhile you also follow Dreyman who does want to consort secretly with those from the West especially as he suspects his girlfriend is having an affair.

The Lives of Others is an excellent thriller which opens the door on the Eastern block during the time of the Cold War, how in East Germany, an all-powerful Communist State was keen to preserve its artistic talents but also anxious to ensure they towed the party line. There are minor weaknesses in the plot, but they are minor. This is a long film (at 137 minutes) but the time passes quickly which is a mark of how riveting the story is, and the pay-off in the final moments is particularly rewarding. It will please a great many people looking for an intelligent film on the circuit and the performances particularly from Ulrich Muhe and Sebastian Koch are first-rate.

Reviewed by Matt Arnoldi