The Lives of Others
*warning, this review will involve personal family history, as watching the film I can’t separate my thoughts between the film itself, and tales involving my grandfather*
Living in East Germany before the unification was a dark time. Secret police. Illegal wiretapping. No free speech. My mother was lucky that her father, a German soldier of both WW1 (as a teenager) and WW2 (by this time in his late 30’s early 40’s, spirited them to West Germany before the wall was built. I think he may have been trying to hide from the Russians (a complicated story in itself involving his brother, my great uncle, but I digress)
By my mothers accounts he was a bitter man, after the war, especially towards Americans but also towards the Wall. It separated him from his family, brothers and sisters. I’m also sure he would have preferred East Germany, and it’s oppressive nature. He would have fit in well, sadly. Never questioning orders, but serving them for His Country.
I bring up that little bit of personal family history because I thought often about him, watching this movie. Captain Wiesel could have easily been someone like my grand father. Never questioning orders, always suspicious of others, and not above using illegal tactics to being about a conviction.
He’s assigned to spy on Georg Dreymond, a idealistic prominent figure in the theater. He brings up his own suspicions, privately, before a Minister also requests them to do so. The Minister has ulterior motives, as he wants Dreymonds girlfriend, the beautiful actress Maria, for himself, but needs Dreymond out of the way. So Wiesler spends his days listening to them, and gets to know them on a personal level.
At some point, he begins to sympathize with Dreymond. The change is slow, and sure. He starts to question why they do what they do? A dangerous proposition for a man in his line of work.
The main turning point seemed to be when a small child ask him if he is a Stasi, the secret police, stating innocently his father has warned of them being bad. Wiesler starts to ask for the child’s fathers name, but stops, as if to realize he has gone to far. This leads him to start looking at Dreymond differently. Perhaps it started sooner, when he realized how men like the Minister used their power to ruin a man just because he covets his girlfriend.
The Girlfriend….of course she isn’t just any girl. She’s a well known actress, but also very fragile. She has a drug problem, and is concerned about her career. Her tale is all the more tragic when she makes a fateful decision that changes….well, nothing. Her scene with The Minister earlier in the film is veritas emotionally, as we see her face, conflicted but also frightened of what this man is capable of. She gives into him, but not without guilt. But it is this guilt that leads to another decision that shows how the Stasi ruined lives in the name of duty.
Which connects them to the Nazis before them. And my thoughts on my grand father. Was he the kind of man who could have changed his world view, after witnessing the damage they had wrought? Would he have been capable of such thought? Or was he, by that age during WW2, too old and stuck in his ways to make any kind of personal reflection. Would he have dared? Wiesler finds the courage to do so.
An older man, perhaps in his 30’s, Wiesler is alone, and lonely. He has no friends, trusts no one, and suspects all. His only form of what passes as a “relationship”, is when he occasionally hires a prostitute. Sad stuff. In his line of work, he can’t afford friends.
Dreymond is his opposite. Respected by his peers, he also avoids speaking out against the regime. As such, he has avoided any suspicion, and lives comfortably, even while his friend, Jerska is black listed. He prefers to not rattle the cage, until a personal tragedy propels him and his like minded friends to action.
Watching this film, which is great, made me think often about that time, and my mothers family. I remember when the wall came down, and the next year, after not seeing them for over 20 years after arriving in the US, her brother and sister visited us with their children. I was too young to understand the relevance. The scene when they all walk out after hearing The Wall has come down was to them, a signal that things were about to change.
If there is one small issue it is that the films ending does tend to go a tad too long, or maybe I’m just being too nit picky.
Regardless, this is a great film that affected me on a personal level, and also a fantastic morality tale about what one man can do when he must make a decision between duty and ethics.
Last edited by Wyldesyde19; 09-10-22 at 11:10 PM.
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I'll just have to watch it again.
So I gather some of your grandfather's relatives remained behind the wall in East Germany? I can't image what that would've been like. Have you seen other films about East Germany? I can only think of three that I've seen myself.
