Film review – The Lives of Others

Maddy Fry reviews the Award-winning political thriller set in 1980’s Berlin

The surveyor, Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is forced into a personal dilemma as he begins to question the morality of his task. The crushing banality of the citizens’ lives is the most depressing aspect to watch; liberty is but a dream, and you are in chains from cradle to grave.

The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s superb debut feature, remains at the back of your mind long after the final credits have rolled, a beautiful and terrifying reminder of the worst, and yet also the very best, that human beings are capable of.

The majority of the film is set in East Berlin in1984, less than a decade before the fall of the Iron Curtain. The communist regime in that part of the city controls every aspect of life; the brutal and ruthless police forces (the Stasi) are forever on hand to imprison and torture any dissenters to the state’s policies.

The crushing banality of the citizens’ lives is the most depressing aspect to watch; liberty is but a dream, and you are in chains from cradle to grave. The only way out is suicide. Even art rigorously conforms to the expectations of those ruling East Germany, as is shown via the character Gorg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a playwright and loyal socialist. Yet despite his loyalty, the authorities still decide to place Dreyman and his girlfriend (Martina Gedeck) under surveillance.

The most remarkable and moving aspect of the film is how realistic the characters are. All of the oppressed have flaws, and many of the oppressors display remarkable qualities and strengths. The film cleverly toys with the viewer’s emotions by showing how it is not just the artists and friends of Dreyman’s who suffer because of the Stasi’s intrusion into their lives; the surveyor, Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is forced into a personal dilemma as he begins to question the morality of his task.

And yet what is most memorable about the film is the beautiful moments of transcendence when, without ever meeting them face-to-face, Wiesler is moved to change by the people he is watching. Such tender flickers of grace are spiritual and emotional gems amidst the otherwise bleak and treacherous landscape that is East Berlin.

The Lives of Others ultimately holds immense relevance for those of us in Britain because it is a dark warning of how the love of power is a weakness to which all of us are prone. And in this age of CCTV, illiberal anti-terrorism laws and talk of ID cards, art forms that remind us of the dangers of totalitarianism are, I feel, needed more than ever.

And yet this film will not leave you feeling depressed. It ends not in defeat but in defiance; lives are destroyed, but lives are also reformed and redeemed. The film is ultimately an illustration of why totalitarian states will forever be doomed to failure. The reason? Because individual defiance matters, and the individual is not useless in the face of monstrous human suffering. Fear not – humanity will not bring about its own destruction. The Lives of Others shows you why.