Screen Scene: “The Lives of Others”

“The Lives of Others”

Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Sony Pictures Classics

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s directorial debut, “The Lives of Others,” poses several weighty questions. How do people redeem themselves after selling their bodies and souls? How do people deal with guilt when they betray the lives and careers of loved ones? How do people connect with one another on such a deep level that they would change completely for the other person? And, most importantly, how much would people sacrifice for an ideology?

Set before the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany, “The Lives of Others” tells the story of socially suppressed artists and the German Democratic Republic secret service agents ordered to spy on them.

Captain Gerd Wiesler (acclaimed German actor Ulrich Mühe) begins to monitor the home of playwright Georg and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria after a performance of one of his plays provokes unsettling themes.

Although Georg appears to heartily support the policies of the GDR with his work, he secretly yearns to speak out against the totalitarian regime and wants to see the reunification of East Germany with its Western counterpart. Christa-Maria, however, is only an aspiring actress and does not seek to involve herself with the dangers of politics.

Trouble begins to brew when Captain Wiesler, once a staunch proponent of GDR socialism, begins to realize he empathizes more with Georg and his colleagues than with his government’s cold-hearted cruelty.

As Wiesler entangles himself in an ever-widening circle of danger and conspiracy, the other characters succumb to political pressures that bring out the best or the worst in their flawed but very human personalities.

All of the actors brilliantly portray their troubled characters, and Mühe’s depiction of Wiesler is especially poignant.

Mühe effortlessly conveys the emotions of a conflicted man gradually leaving behind his lifelong philosophies in order to further a cause in which he begins to believe.

While Wiesler is the archetype of the tragic hero, Mühe’s performance imbues such humility and uncomplaining acceptance that his character is touted as the film’s true champion.

Where overacting would have clouded the nobility and added unnecessary romanticism to this character, Mühe’s underplayed heroism perfectly fits Wiesler’s silent but steadfast persona.

“The Lives of Others” set a record for garnering the most nominations ever (11) in the German Film Awards, and the film is also nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Awards.

Von Donnersmarck, in a press release, summed up his film excellently when he said, “”˜The Lives of Others’ is a human drama about the ability of human beings to do the right thing, no matter how far they have gone down the wrong path.”

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