Imagine living in a world where
your every move is monitored, your every word is relentlessly recorded and
every aspect of your life is cautiously captured. This unsettling reality of a totalitarian
state is portrayed brilliantly in the film ‘The Lives of Others’.
This Oscar Award winning German
film by director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is set in East Germany in
1984 during the Cold War period. In the movie, the Stasi or the Secret police,
spy on every intricate detail of the lives of East Germany’s citizens, to
prevent any undercurrents of dissent against the ruling government.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Film clip
In the film, Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe), a Stasi agent is assigned to
spy on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian
Koch), a playwright. Dreyman is a staunch Communist and vocal supporter of the
government. However, he is put under the scanner by a high ranking government
official who has an ulterior motive to win over Christa-Maria Sieland
(Martina Gedeck), the writer’s girlfriend.
The cold, grey and dark overtones
of the film resonate the dreary reality of the time. This is offset by the warm
humanity of the two characters who constitute the film. The movie belongs to
Wiesler and Dreyman, who transform from being blind followers of a repressive
regime to fearless exponents of their own moral and personal volition.
The movie has subtle but thrilling
plot points which elicit a constant ebb and flow of drama and tension. It is
rooted in the harsh reality of East Germany and it is this historicity that
gives the movie a greater significance. The film pays homage to the infinite
individual acts of defiance for the benefit of a nation that go unacknowledged.
- Parinitha Shinde
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