The Lives of Others: Life on the Other Side of the Wall
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) is set in a gloomy East Berlin of November 1984 with the fall of the wall still a distant dream the thought police would have you imprisoned for. Indeed, if not engaged in mind reading, the GDR still has cold and merciless ways of keeping its population under control and to obey the system of communism. This created a year zero atmosphere in East Germany and the opening scene exemplifies this world when we see a man reduced to tears and shame after 50 hours of questioning by the secret police (known as the Stasi) has him finally reveal his accomplice. The Stasi philosophy is that if a person is innocent they will angrier the longer they are questioned but finally crack if they are guilty.
The initial central character in the film is Georg Dreymann (Sebastian Koch) who is a successful playwright and open-minded liberal. These two aspects make him a potential loose canon and focus of the Stasi. Along with girlfriend Christa Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), who is a famous actress herself, they are practically a celebrity couple in a country that refutes celebrities. Dreymann has become disturbed by the number of suicides of people in his country, something the GDR have failed to acknowledge since 1977 by a process of tight censorship. At a party to celebrate his latest play, Georg encounters Minister Bruno Hempf who crudely declares his attraction towards Christa. He also orders the loyal Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz to have Dreymann watched closely in order to discredit him. This assignment falls to Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) a trusted member of the Stasi looking for promotion who will operate under the Stasi codename HGW XX/7.
At this point the film gradually switches from Dreymann as main protagonist to Wiesler inadvertently becoming complicit in his struggle while secretly listening to conversations at Dreymann's home. Wiesler will find himself softening his stand and be caught between both sides of the oppression of East Germany in this Cold War period, slowly being drawn into the lives of those he is secretly listening to. In the pre-Gorbachev and Perestroika years, the fear of all its citizens can be felt here in the looming presence of the ruthless Bruno Hempf and his compatriot Anton Grubitz.
The year in which this film is set is 1984. This creates the idea that it’s perhaps just more than a coincidence on the director’s part that like George Orwell's book, this East Berlin is a world where parts of the communist philosophy would read like his famous novel set in the same year. Also, the book's proclaiming beliefs like: "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery", "Ignorance is Strength" are not out of place in this GDR world.
For the actor who plays Wiesler the film is quite personal. Ulrich Mühe said in a book describing the background story of The Lives of Others that his ex-wife Jenny Gröllmann was an agent of the East German secret service from 1979 to 1989. Therefore, his character in the film was listening to and ultimately complicit with the Georg Dreymann character that is loosely based on himself. Jenny Gröllmann swore under oath that she didn't work as an in-official agent (Codename “IM”) for the Staatssicherheit and a court ruled Ulrich Mühe must not call his ex-wife IM any more. In a strange parable, Gröllmann died of Cancer just prior to the film’s release. The events in Ulrich Mühe’s life that inspired his involvement in the film were to take another bitter sweet turn after The Lives of Others won Best Film at the European Film Awards with Mühe receiving the award for Best Actor.
At the Molodist Film Festival in Kiev last year, The Lives of Others certainly created more of a buzz than the other more critically acclaimed German film in the main competition, Matthias Luthardt's PingPong. That film was also short-listed for the European Film Awards but had a lukewarm reception from the audience in Kiev. The Lives of Others, by contrast, won the audience award in Locarno and Warsaw and created a big sensation at the Telluride film festival, so it came as no surprise that it was nominated for big awards and now worldwide distribution, thereby underlining its popularity and appeal in what is arguably the most telling account of the latter days of the old East Germany
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), Germany, 2006
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast List: Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, Thomas Thieme, Ulrich Tukur.
Running time: 137 mins
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) is set in a gloomy East Berlin of November 1984 with the fall of the wall still a distant dream the thought police would have you imprisoned for. Indeed, if not engaged in mind reading, the GDR still has cold and merciless ways of keeping its population under control and to obey the system of communism. This created a year zero atmosphere in East Germany and the opening scene exemplifies this world when we see a man reduced to tears and shame after 50 hours of questioning by the secret police (known as the Stasi) has him finally reveal his accomplice. The Stasi philosophy is that if a person is innocent they will angrier the longer they are questioned but finally crack if they are guilty.
The initial central character in the film is Georg Dreymann (Sebastian Koch) who is a successful playwright and open-minded liberal. These two aspects make him a potential loose canon and focus of the Stasi. Along with girlfriend Christa Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), who is a famous actress herself, they are practically a celebrity couple in a country that refutes celebrities. Dreymann has become disturbed by the number of suicides of people in his country, something the GDR have failed to acknowledge since 1977 by a process of tight censorship. At a party to celebrate his latest play, Georg encounters Minister Bruno Hempf who crudely declares his attraction towards Christa. He also orders the loyal Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz to have Dreymann watched closely in order to discredit him. This assignment falls to Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) a trusted member of the Stasi looking for promotion who will operate under the Stasi codename HGW XX/7.
At this point the film gradually switches from Dreymann as main protagonist to Wiesler inadvertently becoming complicit in his struggle while secretly listening to conversations at Dreymann's home. Wiesler will find himself softening his stand and be caught between both sides of the oppression of East Germany in this Cold War period, slowly being drawn into the lives of those he is secretly listening to. In the pre-Gorbachev and Perestroika years, the fear of all its citizens can be felt here in the looming presence of the ruthless Bruno Hempf and his compatriot Anton Grubitz.
The year in which this film is set is 1984. This creates the idea that it’s perhaps just more than a coincidence on the director’s part that like George Orwell's book, this East Berlin is a world where parts of the communist philosophy would read like his famous novel set in the same year. Also, the book's proclaiming beliefs like: "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery", "Ignorance is Strength" are not out of place in this GDR world.
For the actor who plays Wiesler the film is quite personal. Ulrich Mühe said in a book describing the background story of The Lives of Others that his ex-wife Jenny Gröllmann was an agent of the East German secret service from 1979 to 1989. Therefore, his character in the film was listening to and ultimately complicit with the Georg Dreymann character that is loosely based on himself. Jenny Gröllmann swore under oath that she didn't work as an in-official agent (Codename “IM”) for the Staatssicherheit and a court ruled Ulrich Mühe must not call his ex-wife IM any more. In a strange parable, Gröllmann died of Cancer just prior to the film’s release. The events in Ulrich Mühe’s life that inspired his involvement in the film were to take another bitter sweet turn after The Lives of Others won Best Film at the European Film Awards with Mühe receiving the award for Best Actor.
At the Molodist Film Festival in Kiev last year, The Lives of Others certainly created more of a buzz than the other more critically acclaimed German film in the main competition, Matthias Luthardt's PingPong. That film was also short-listed for the European Film Awards but had a lukewarm reception from the audience in Kiev. The Lives of Others, by contrast, won the audience award in Locarno and Warsaw and created a big sensation at the Telluride film festival, so it came as no surprise that it was nominated for big awards and now worldwide distribution, thereby underlining its popularity and appeal in what is arguably the most telling account of the latter days of the old East Germany
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), Germany, 2006
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast List: Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, Thomas Thieme, Ulrich Tukur.
Running time: 137 mins
posted by Steven Yates at 8:35 AM
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