recommended

An Exercise In Nonsense

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. The Lifes of Others or also known as Das Leben Der Anderen is a movie that i was not excited for and to be honest it's not for my taste. Some people will like it for sure and that's why it's even in the Top 250 of all time but that doesn't mean that i have to agree with those viewers or the critics in general. This was a very bland and slow paced movie also i didn't like any of the perfomances that much and the storyline wasn't that much interesting either. The running time of 2hrs and 14mins was also not that needed either. (0/10)

Das Leben Der AnderenThe affection and journey of how the lead character draws out to the couple works more than anything ever for he too is in a similar condition to the audience and hence it becomes almost impossible not to be effected by it. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; the writer-director, has written a complicated character driven feature that is smart front the first frame until the curtain drops and only if it had better editing on its side, it would have easily entered the major league. Ulrich Muhe has done a splendid job since he didn't have much verbal content in it, he still expresses it beautifully and is supported decently by Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch. Das Leben Der Anderen is a thought provoking feature that screeches onto one's heart for it goes into dark places that you may be familiar with but still never experienced like this before.

For those who love history, this movie is for you. As a college student in the United States I only knew about the DDR from what I had learned in history classes and the little I learned from traveling in Europe. I could never fully imagine the effects that the wall and the Stasi had on the people of Germany. Das Leben der Anderen gives an outsider an inside look as to what East Germany was like. Wiesler is a Stasi captain who has been assigned to monitor Georg Dreymann, a German playwright who is trying to get support for his friend Jerska who has been blacklisted by the German government. Wiesler bugs Dreymann's apartment, and he is soon thrust into the world of the writer. Though this starts out as a simple mission, Wiesler begins to see how the government has affected these people. He begins to care about Dreymann, especially towards the end of the movie. One of the main arguments that is brought to attention in the film is that people never change. Obviously that is not true. The most significant change throughout the film is Wiesler. He doesn't view his job as a simple mission anymore. He has to protect the people that he has grown to care about, even if it ends up costing him his job. The film shows that people can change. Wielser is always associated with the color gray, a very neutral color. This shows that not everything can be black and white. One must dig deeper to see the true nature of people. It shows the darkness that was within Germany, parts that those who didn't live in the time may not fully understand until seeing the film. I think everyone should see this film because it brings history to life. There are so many layers to every aspect of this film. Each time you watch you can find something new that you didn't notice before. It truly makes you think.

The Lives of Others is a German film that tells the story of two artists living in East Germany during the height of the Cold War. The Ministry for State Security, or Stasi, knows no limits to its surveillance power and has taken a special interest in the artistic community. Despite their unwavering faith to each other, we play witness as these two lives become further and further intertwined with the State Security. The Lives of Others will leave your heart pounding and mind racing as you become engrossed in a world of deceit and passion. The plot is methodically revealed to you in such a way that you're aware of where you're headed, but shocked when you get there. It draws you in and leaves you feeling as though you have truly peered into – the lives of others.Georg (Sebastian Koch) is a playwright who walks the line between obedience to the Party and his moral compass. He frequently surrounds himself with intellectuals with more fervor than he, but manages to stay on the Party's good side. Change is a constant theme throughout the film and Georg's life is no exception. As he slowly sees his world crumbling before him he becomes more and more impassioned. A dear friend hanging himself is the catalyst for a shift in Georg's writing style. After such a traumatizing event his close friends no longer seem so radical.Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck) is Georg's girlfriend and actress in several of his plays. Their romance grows as the film progresses and leaves them both feeling as though nothing else matters. However, her flourishing acting career has garnered her some attention from the Stasi. She too is forced to choose between allegiance to the State and her moral well-being. Throughout the film her choices have the most impact on others. Although unreliable at times, we feel inexplicably drawn to her. Her presence on-screen is intoxicating, which is perhaps why we see events unfold as they do. Despite all evidence to the contrary we choose to trust where she takes us.Weisler (Ulrich Mühe) is a veteran of the Stasi and prisoner interrogation. A slave to his own stoicism, he leads a simple, calculated lifestyle that revolves around his allegiance to the State. He is well-versed in taking people to their breaking point and his latest assignment is to surveil Georg and Christa-Maria. As he immerses himself in their lives he begins to question everything around him and everything he's ever known. He travels deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole until he's completely lost his sense of up and down, and right from wrong. If Christa-Maria is the catalyst for change then Weisler's transformation creates the largest explosion.The Lives of Others leads you through a tangled web of interactions and leaves you feeling as though you yourself have been ensnared. Ulrich Mühe delivers a captivating performance, perhaps the best of his illustrious career. Overall the film was one of the best foreign films in recent memory, and was recognized as such. It won Best Foreign Film in 2006 after narrowly edging out another of the great foreign films in recent memory – Pans Labyrinth. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck brilliantly commands the pace of the film through the lens of the camera, the claustrophobia inducing sets, and the haunting score. This film is definitely a must-see.