The life of others

The life of others (137 min)

Seen on the 18th January 2009

This is a truly enjoyable film. The life of others tells the story of a group of artists in Eastern Germany towards the end of the communist era. People live in a climate of suspicion as the all powerful states watches the lives of its people excusing this vigilante attitude as a greater good. When we meet Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler we immediately think we are in for quite a tense film. Wiesler is the archetypical tyrant who does not stop to contemplate human beings if they are braking the law. This rather cold and cynical character is assigned to spy on the lives of a group of artists who are rather content with the socialist establishment of the time.

Two spies move in the house of Georg Dreyman and his partner Christa-Maria Sieland. The turn of events that follows puts Georg in the middle of a counter GDR movement aiming at publishing a paper in a western periodical. Wiesler immediately realizes that something is cooking up so he investigates further. What happens next is really the focus of the film that only shows how human feelings can destroy but also save. In a turn of events the two characters (Wiesler and Dreyman) meet in reunified Germany when the situation has completely changed for both of them. An excellent film.