Spying on people can be interesting

By Kylie Jane Wakefield
Collegian Editor
April 18, 2007

In 1984 East Germany, it was not unheard of for the government to spy on its own people, creating paranoia throughout that part of the country. A government agency, the Stasi, would keep its people on their toes by initiating investigations on anyone they suspected did not support their social GDR, the German Democratic Republic. Obviously, this was not a good time to be living in Germany, especially if you wanted to express any free or divergent thought whatsoever.

This is what The Lives of Others is about and much more. Georg Dreyman (played by Sebastian Koch) is a playwright during this time who is seemingly lauded and appreciated by his government. In the opening scenes, a Stasi spy, Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) attends one of his plays and expresses to his fellow colleagues that he is highly suspicious of Dreyman’s intentions. Wiesler, who is introduced to us as a strict spy with no tolerance for dissonance, seems to be paranoid about anyone who creates art, and he calls for an investigation to take place.

Meanwhile, Dreyman and his circle of writer friends discuss the oppressiveness of their government, and they urge him to step up and take action. Dreyman is reluctant to do so because the government was known for ruining careers and even placing people in prison for their actions. His girlfriend and muse Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck) also feels that Dreyman should do something to stop the injustice, but it is just too risky.

After Wiesler has persuaded his officials to run an examination of Dreyman’s life, the Stasi wiretaps the playwright’s apartment and begins listening in on him every second of the day. Nothing much happens, until Wiesler starts to feel sympathy for Dreyman.

Wiesler, who started out as a stiff Stasi employee, starts to live vicariously through Dreyman. He becomes so involved in Dreyman’s life that he covers up for him. He is sympathetic towards Dreyman and Christa-Maria’s situation, and stops acting like a robot programmed only to fulfill the Stasi’s tyrannical goals.

Although The Lives of Others starts out slow, once the point of the plot is introduced, it traps you in. At first you hate Weisler for being such a tool for the government, but then you realize that it’s all he has to hold on to. Once he learns about Dreyman, he realizes that there is more to life, and more to his identity, than what he does for a living.

The Lives of Others is a fascinating film that gives more than a history lesson (although that is a plus). It’s about the character of Weisler, and its main goal is to show the viewer just how much we affect one another.

The closing scenes are perhaps the most powerful. The film lags a bit in the beginning, is filled with more action in the middle and has a slow, detailed and thorough ending. It’s not perfectly packaged, nor is it without hope. The ending is profound and uplifting, parallel to what was actually going on at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The characters reflect the light at the end of the tunnel that was shed onto the people of Germany at the end of a dark era. The Lives of Others is easily one of the best foreign films ever made, not just for its quiet resonance, but also for its willingness to tell the truth.

wakefieldk1@lasalle.edu