Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-09-17
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 132 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the former East Germany, no-one was above suspicion. Like George Orwell's vision of the future come to life, art and people and relationships were monitored obsessively; The Lives Of Others captures not only the paranoia and danger inherent in such a world, but also expresses hope that even in the most desperate situations, people can make a difference.

The story of The Lives Of Others unfolds mostly through the eyes of a secret service agent who's been given the task of spying on an artistic couple who've attracted the attention of the Minister of Culture. Little by little, he's drawn into their lives even as we're drawn into his; and as he loses his faith in the government, he must decide whether or not to try to hide the transgressions of those he's watching. As the physical danger and emotional cost mounts, it's impossible not to become utterly engrossed; intelligent and well-written, The Lives Of Others is also deeply moving.

It's rare to find a film that really deserves its rave reviews, and considering The Lives Of Others won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, it's got a lot to live up to. Happily, it's more than just up to scratch--it's absolutely brilliant. --Sarah Dobbs

Synopsis
In East Berlin in 1984, the secret police, known as the Stasi, are gaining more and more control, spying on German citizens, and recruiting thousands of them to spy on each other. Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) has been ordered to find something on playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), so he sets up a surveillance room and listens closely as Dreyman, his actress girlfriend, Christa-Marie Sieland (Martina Gedeck), and various suspected radical friends gather in their apartment. But when Wiesler discovers that culture minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) cast suspicion on Dreyman only so he can have his way with Sieland, the master interrogator and torture teacher starts taking a long look at just what it all is about. THE LIVES OF OTHERS, co-written and directed by first-timer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is a tense, compelling thriller about a critical time in German history. Muhe is mesmerising as the complicated Wiesler, a loyal soldier until he learns too much. The wildly talented Koch is outstanding as Dreyman, a man with a lot to say but desperate to avoid the same fate as his mentor, theatre director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert). Inspired by actual events and real characters, THE LIVES OF OTHERS was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007. Interestingly, during and after the filming of the movie, several of the actors (including Muhe) found out that they or their families had been victims of the Stasi--and in one case, the father of an actor (Charly Hubner) was revealed to have been a member of the Stasi himself.

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece
What can I say. Very rarely do I come across a film which actually makes a connection with my heart as well as my brain. It exposed the brutality and ruthlessness of the GDR and its secret police force, the Stasi, whilst subtley exposing the delicate and fragile lives of its citizens, as well as one of its operatives and his transition from enforcer to dissident. Bravo.

Great movie but not a masterpiece
The Lives of Others is a great movie, but I can't rate it a masterpiece. On the plus side, the director has a total command of the medium, he knows how to make a suspenseful, thoughtful, entertaining movie, that holds the interest of the audience even at a running time that exceeds 2 hours. What's more, the acting is uniformly extraordinary. Let's talk now about the main problems I see with this film. The emotional heart of the movie is when the Stasi officer in charge of spying the playwright and his girlfriend, a very tough and experienced individual who presumably has worked in many similar cases before, decides instead to protect them. Why he would do that, risking an end to his career and even a charge of treason?. Though his motivations are not altogether clear (he is an extremely reserved man), the change of heart seems to happen in part after listening the playwright playing a sonata on the piano after learning one of his colleagues committed suicide, after years of harassment by the government (he is also uneasy after finding out the Stasi is going for the playwright not for ideological reasons but in order that his beautiful girlfriend would then be available for the repellent minister of culture). As a metaphor from his newly found sensibility, he even steals a book from Brecht from the playwright's house, and is seen reading it. Is this believable? As much as the audience would be moved by a story of redemption, I think it's not. This is not a minor quibble, since this change of heart is really the main plot twist of the movie, on which all the film is build. The ending has a great closing line, but is also a bit difficult to accept. From what I know, few if any Stasi officers have expressed any remorse from what they did, and continue to defend their actions. That aside, this is a great film, from a young director that really knows how to make a movie that is both highly entertaining and thought provoking. And it has many great scenes that you vividly remember later. The best one: the young Stasi officer making a ill-timed Honecker joke in the cafeteria. It's a scene that's so good on so many levels.

The heart can rule the mind
An incredible film which proves that ultimately, the heart can win out over the mind. Demonstrating the massive pressures both artists and the authorities were under in the Eastern Bloc, this film builds superbly, and the characters are so utterly believable and perfectly acted, I was quite literally on the edge of my seat, unable to sit back and relax with my glass of wine. The story shows the courage of artists unwilling to compromise in the face of fear, and also the bravery of those going against their frightening seniors within the government establishment. The film would already have ended well without the finale, which is a stunning and fitting end to a quite awesome work. A thoughtful, memorable, compelling and fascinating film.