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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By M. B. Alcat
Format:DVD
"The lives of others" (= "Das leben der anderen") is a wonderful film directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Truth to be told, I hadn't heard his name before, but I'm certain that I won't forget it now. This film, his debut as a director, is simply exceptional. An engaging political thriller, this movie is at the same time a complex study regarding the power of choices, and the way we behave when faced to our worst fears.
The story is set in East Germany in 1984, when the lack of freedom and the zeal of the Secret Police (Stasi) were pervasive. Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an agent that specializes in discovering "traitors", that is, those that don't agree with everything that the government says. Wiesler is very good at his job, and has no mercy for those that don't add up to his ideal of what a good socialist should be.
That is probably the reason why his superior assigns him the task of of spying on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a well-known socialist playwright that is nonetheless suspicious, due to his friends. Dreyman lives with his girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), a talented actress that loves him but has sexual trysts with a powerful government official that promises her that she will never be in the black list of artist that cannot work.
As Wiesler learns more about the couple, thanks to the hidden microphones his team installed in their apartment, he starts warming towards them. He even protects them when Dreyman becomes actively involved in "subversive" activities, as a reaction to the suicide of a friend that had been blacklisted. But how far will Wiesler risk himself? And can human beings really change?... Read more ›
The story is set in East Germany in 1984, when the lack of freedom and the zeal of the Secret Police (Stasi) were pervasive. Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an agent that specializes in discovering "traitors", that is, those that don't agree with everything that the government says. Wiesler is very good at his job, and has no mercy for those that don't add up to his ideal of what a good socialist should be.
That is probably the reason why his superior assigns him the task of of spying on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a well-known socialist playwright that is nonetheless suspicious, due to his friends. Dreyman lives with his girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), a talented actress that loves him but has sexual trysts with a powerful government official that promises her that she will never be in the black list of artist that cannot work.
As Wiesler learns more about the couple, thanks to the hidden microphones his team installed in their apartment, he starts warming towards them. He even protects them when Dreyman becomes actively involved in "subversive" activities, as a reaction to the suicide of a friend that had been blacklisted. But how far will Wiesler risk himself? And can human beings really change?... Read more ›
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Demob Happy
Format:DVD
1984 is an inauspicious date for the setting of this fine movie about the East German autocracy. Whereas films like 'Goodbye Lenin' inspired a trend of nostalgia (coined as OSTalgia) for the GDR, 'The Life of Others' paints a more realistic picture. In a thoughtful, humane work, Stasi captain Gerd Wiesler is given a surveillance mission to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland. Weisler is an unquestioning party loyalist and cog in the Stasi machinery who takes pleasure in his thorough and exacting approach to such a mission. A dilligent professional, he is certainly not a sadist, but simply an automaton who divests emotional responsibility in the careful pursuit of his work. There is a brilliant early scene at the theatre where he is given his mission. Sitting in the Gods you are made privvy to the global perspective of a surveillance expert, the professional pleasure in his cold assessment of the situation. However, in a plot with shades of Francis Ford Copolla's masterpiece The Conversation, he find himself slowly drawn to the couple and ultimately implicated in their fate. Although it could also be suggested that there is a hint of 'Rear Window' about the story, Weisler's gradual softening of perspective is less Hitchcock-style obsession or voyeurism but rather about a lonely man warmed vicariously by the live and loves of others (hence the title).
Georg and Christa-Maria's existence is one (un)governed by the senses, by friendship and romance. Their flat is warmly photographed as a haven of free expression, of literature, music and art. By contrast Weisler returns to his spartan appartment with only state propagandist television for company or entertainment.... Read more ›
Georg and Christa-Maria's existence is one (un)governed by the senses, by friendship and romance. Their flat is warmly photographed as a haven of free expression, of literature, music and art. By contrast Weisler returns to his spartan appartment with only state propagandist television for company or entertainment.... Read more ›
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
This is an excellent film, but one cannot buy from Amazon UK with confidence because it does not state what region it sells from the UK outlet. The US outlet states that the release is region A only, i.e., it will not play on European Blu-Ray players, which are region B. Amazon should tidy up this aspect of classification of HD discs since they are losing sales to other online shops that have got their act together.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I can only agree with everything that has been said by reviewers so far - it is a masterpiece. I have now seen it three times and continue to see new things. How this first time director follows this, I don't know. Can I also add that the music is also stunning - and an important element in the enjoyment of the film. I have downloaded it and listen to it constantly at the moment. There is an emotional intensity to it that is, at times, overwhelming.
As a result of seeing the film I have started to read The File by Timothy Garton-Ash, about the discovery of his own Stasi file - this book is also excellent.
Barry Mason - London
As a result of seeing the film I have started to read The File by Timothy Garton-Ash, about the discovery of his own Stasi file - this book is also excellent.
Barry Mason - London
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. B. A. D. Plowman
VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD
Much as I have seen some utterly superb movies in recent times, none of them have quite matched up to THE LIVES OF OTHERS. From the intriguing opening of this film, straight through to its exhaustingly moving conclusion, I was captivated. This film is on a higher plain. A beautiful work of art.
Experience THE LIVES OF OTHERS, and in doing so enrich your own life.
In conclusion: PURE CINEMATIC GOLD.
Experience THE LIVES OF OTHERS, and in doing so enrich your own life.
In conclusion: PURE CINEMATIC GOLD.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Gerd Weisler (Ulrich Muhe, appropriately drab) is an East German Stasi (Secret Police) drone: the type of man that his superiors count on to "get" his prey. Early on in this fascinating, superior film, Gerd arrives home from a hard day of spying on his fellow East Germans and prepares a meal: microwaved white rice onto which he squeezes tomato paste from a tube. This scene, in its spare, workmanlike manner sets the course and adjusts the sights of this film: the unremarkable, out of hate and jealousy assigned to bring down those deemed different, those deemed remarkable, those deemed talented. Weisler is the perfect Stasi automaton: a socialist monk with ice-cold eyes and an incorruptible true believer's faith in the system he has sworn to defend against "enemies of socialism" no matter where he finds them.
"The Lives of Others" begins in 1984 a particularly Orwellian date and 5 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Weisler is invited to a night of theater by his school friend and boss Colonel Grubitz (a slimy bureaucrat performance by Ulrich Tukor) for a performance of a play written by Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and starring Dreyman's live in girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck from "Mostly Martha"). Dreyman is tall, handsome, dresses in colors other than grey and Christa-Maria is wondrously gorgeous and a great actress to boot.
As Weisler watches Christa-Maria on stage he also scopes in on Dreyman, via his opera binoculars, watching Christa-Maria with love and admiration. The look of distrust and envy in Wailer's eyes is frightening: his eyes widen, squint and widen again. What does Weisler see or sense on that triumphant, for Dreyman and Sieland, night? Is it watching them basking in the glory of an audience's love and appreciation?... Read more ›
"The Lives of Others" begins in 1984 a particularly Orwellian date and 5 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Weisler is invited to a night of theater by his school friend and boss Colonel Grubitz (a slimy bureaucrat performance by Ulrich Tukor) for a performance of a play written by Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and starring Dreyman's live in girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck from "Mostly Martha"). Dreyman is tall, handsome, dresses in colors other than grey and Christa-Maria is wondrously gorgeous and a great actress to boot.
As Weisler watches Christa-Maria on stage he also scopes in on Dreyman, via his opera binoculars, watching Christa-Maria with love and admiration. The look of distrust and envy in Wailer's eyes is frightening: his eyes widen, squint and widen again. What does Weisler see or sense on that triumphant, for Dreyman and Sieland, night? Is it watching them basking in the glory of an audience's love and appreciation?... Read more ›
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
It really was like this!
Having family members who suffered under the regime I found it a disturbing and insightful reminder. Impressive performances and taut direction.
Published 1 month ago by pip
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't stop watching.
Excellent acting, fantastic story that lets us see the conflict between human feelings and duty. I can't wait to watch it again soon.
Published 3 months ago by Mark Cunningham
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie
This is a great movie. But why do we never see the pure evil of that German system illustrated by the Germans? The evil without any sugar coating circumstances.
Published 5 months ago by Niels Müller Larsen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant film.
This is a well made film, giving insight into the lives of East German citizens prior to the fall of the wall. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Der Burschlaner
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Lives of Others" will touch your life
This is the story of a good man.
Every once in a long while a movie will comes along that a five star rating is just not good enough. This is one of those movies. Read more
Every once in a long while a movie will comes along that a five star rating is just not good enough. This is one of those movies. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by bernie
5.0 out of 5 stars
WE NEED A UK RELEASE
The USA disc sold here is locked to REGION/AREA "A" while the German release from Amazon.de has NO English subtitles. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2008 by H S Marks
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blu Ray Region
Excellent film, shame the U.S. import blu ray release is locked to region 'A', so unless you have an import player, or PS3 console, avoid...
Published on 30 Jun 2008 by RuggerNE8
5.0 out of 5 stars
As it was then, is becoming again
My brother bought the DVD because he liked it so much, and insisted that i watch it too. I did today, and it was well spend time. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2008 by Irini
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very powerful movie!
This movie is so well made and with such depth of character and depiction of a totalitarian system, that it gives the viewer much to contemplate. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2007 by Aeneas
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very powerful movie!
This movie is so well made and with such depth of character and depiction of a totalitarian system, that it gives the viewer much to contemplate. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2007 by Aeneas
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