Das Leben der Anderen: Review

It is with no surprise that, given the current political climate, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's feature length debut, The Lives of Others has been so widely hailed by American film critics. With its incisive attacks on the government monitoring of the GDR (German Democratic Republic), it is particularly timely given the continuing discussion around the use of the Patriot Act, a piece of legislation that has been under constant fire by the liberal thinking members of our society. However, to label the film as anything remotely closely to a masterpiece would be misleading as, despite a number of interesting moments, the film never seems to pick up steam, choosing to meander around its subject matter than take a hard driven approach through it. This is not to suggest that it is without merits, as it certainly is, but unlike Francis Ford Coppola's under seen The Conversation, which examines the moral and intellectual ramifications of monitoring other's while remaining a tense thriller, The Lives of Others never achieves the sort of excitement and danger that its material so desperately requires.

Instead, the film imagines itself as a political and human drama and under those terms, it is an unbridled success. It tells the story of a Stasi official, Gerd Wiesler, who is given the task of spying on a local playwright, Georg Dreyman, and his lover, Christa-Maria Sieland, a burgeoning actress. The further Wiesler gets into his investigation, the more emotionally involved he becomes and as the film progresses, he finds it increasingly difficult to separate his work from the pseudo-relationship his eavesdropping has allowed him to create. All the principle actors are good, especially Ulrich Muhe, who as Wiesler crafts a complex character that, rather surprisingly, by the narrative's conclusion, ends up driving the film's emotional punch. Muhe is brilliantly nuanced, lending a subtlety to the performance that is widely unseen in mainstream American film. Without his presence, The Lives of Others would be a completely different film, but Muhe refuses to turn his character into a cardboard cutout, instead, making Wiesler painfully human. Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck, as the couple Wiesler spies on, are both efficient if unspectacular, paling in comparison to Muhe but competently handling the material.

The script by Donnersmarck is something of a mixed bag. It is undeniably politically aware, with a sharp eye for the climate in which the narrative takes place, and its characters are well drawn but it always feels like its going somewhere, yet never reaches that moment. Given the material, one wishes that there was a little more excitement injected into the proceedings rather than just steadily moving through the narrative. Combined with the film's restrained style, The Lives of Others never approaches the level of effective thriller even though it always seems to be hinting at that path. Instead, it defiantly remains on a dramatic path and at times, is a complete bore. Donnersmarck obviously displays a great deal of knowledge about the time period in question and has a number of interesting and compelling observations about the actions of his characters that he gratefully states subtlety, allowing his audience to come to their own conclusions about the film. Had he included some more solid thriller elements, this film could have quickly approached classic status, rather than seeming like an interesting distraction.

The biggest question revolving around The Lives of Others at this point is whether or not it deserved it's Oscar win for Best Foreign Film, beating out such competition as Guillermo Del Toro's brilliant Pan's Labyrinth and the answer there is a resounding no. Where as Del Toro's masterpiece is a riveting blend of fantasy, politics and genre filmmaking that packs a wallop of an emotional punch, The Lives of Others seems like a small political drama. I don't want to suggest that The Lives of Others is a bad film, as it is far from that but Pan's Labyrinth is so good, so advanced that few films from 2006 can stack up with it. It was out righted robbed of its Oscar but I suspect that history will find that it holds up better in the long run. It is a awe-inspiring blend of Del Toro's penchant for gore with a human, heartbreaking story that is nothing short of astounding. Where The Lives of Others is able to succeed Pan's Labyrinth is in its timely nature. At a point where the question of one's privacy is reaching a feverous pitch, The Lives of Others resonates deeply. Had it been willing to take a less intellectual, more thrill based approach, it may have been able to enter into Pan's sphere rather than being known as one of the films that stole the Oscar from its rightful owner.

****/*****