They gave us the best cars to drive, the most reliable machines to work with and has become the synonym for efficiency and expertise. And now it seems Germany is all poised to take over the reins of perfect cinema from Hollywood, and rightly so. The Lives of Others (or Das Leben Der Anderen) is a movie that gets a grip on you, no matter however prepared you may seem to be, and takes you on a whirlwind ride through the harshest and the most tender of human emotions at the same time, and by the standards of celluloid, that indeed is a remarkable feat.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck debut feature as director and screenwriter showcases an engrossing view into the world of espionage: nasty, gritty and dreadful. The story happens circa. 1984, where in communist East Germany, the
secret Stasi police rules with an iron hand and doesnt have any qualms intervening into privacy. Respected Stasi captain Weisler (Ulrich Muhe) is assigned the surveillance of the country’s most respected playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), who is under suspicion for culturally anti- Commmunist views. Weisler and his men bug Dreyman’s apartment where he lives with stage actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), and set up a perch in the building’s attic, without being aware that a high ranking minister is pulling the strings to bring disgrace upon Dreyman and own his woman. Caught in the midst of the lives of these others, Weisler falls and does the unthinkable...
Credit goes to director Donnersmarck for weaving a highly taut plot, with emotions and those thriller elements added in the right porportions. Acting is top quality stuff with Sebastian Koch casted perfectly as the emotionally agonized playwright, caught between conflicting interests. The supporting cast performs well too, but its Ulrich Mulhe as Weisler that steals the thunder and makes this amazingly perplex story into something unnerving and mesmerising. We can only sit back and watch in amazement as Weisler transforms from being a robot whose armour is pierced by human emotions , a performance that is truly applaudable. The score couldnt have been any better, tantalizing the viewer with what is happening on the screen, and leaves a deep impression. And the icing on the cake is the ending, something that can totally catch the audience at unaware. I never could get the chance to watch this on the big screen, but it sometimes gives me quiet pleasure to think that those final scenes would have got a standing ovation in theatres, an accolade this movie undeniably deserves.
Its been a long (read really long) time since movies with such perfection has been featured; and believe me, it feels good to discover that directors and scriptwriters with such innovation and imagination still exist. And that, take my word, is something quite hard to come by these days. Perfect 10/10, in every sense of the word. And truly, we owe it to the Germans, indeed.