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The Lives Of Others [2007]
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews![The Lives Of Others [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GT-evfaTL._SL160_.jpg) | Starring: ~ Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch Ulrich Tukur Hans Bauer Ulrich Muehe List Price: £19.99 Our Price: £4.98 You Save: £15.01 (75%) Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours ![View more information about The Lives Of Others [2007] at Amazon](/i/c/view.gif) |
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 | Product Details: Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment Region: 2 Number of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL Rating:   Sales Rank: 164 | | Look for similar DVDs by genre: | | Customers who bought this item also bought:
| | Customer Reviews: what a directoral debut! how precious, but tenuous, our freedom is (03 November 2008)an authentic portrayal of the stasi spy system in Eastern Germany which prevailed before the collapse of the Berlin wall and which conscripted millions of its citizens to spy on each other and everyone else. an intimate poignant representation via the its central characters, the film needs to be slow in order to capture the oppressive mood, and what developes subsequently..... but it never feels laboured . remember that it is the director's first film which makes it even more significant. Modern History Brought to Life (24 October 2008)I can't rate this film highly enough. It's chilling because the GDR and the Stasi that forms the background to the fictional characters was in existence until the fall of the Berlin Wall and is part of Modern European History. Particularly moving is the character of Wiesler, a sad and lonely man, moved by a single piece of music to become a human being instead of simply a cypher. My only regret is my inability to speak German beyond a very few words, thus having to rely on subtitles! Wonderful. Love it (11 October 2008)i have just watched this film for the second time and it is even better than i remembered. Atmospheric, eveoctive of the time and gripping - cannot reccomend it enough A masterpiece (12 September 2008)What can I say. Very rarely do I come across a film which actually makes a connection with my heart as well as my brain. It exposed the brutality and ruthlessness of the GDR and its secret police force, the Stasi, whilst subtley exposing the delicate and fragile lives of its citizens, as well as one of its operatives and his transition from enforcer to dissident. Bravo. Great movie but not a masterpiece (10 August 2008)The Lives of Others is a great movie, but I can't rate it a masterpiece. On the plus side, the director has a total command of the medium, he knows how to make a suspenseful, thoughtful, entertaining movie, that holds the interest of the audience even at a running time that exceeds 2 hours. What's more, the acting is uniformly extraordinary. Let's talk now about the main problems I see with this film. The emotional heart of the movie is when the Stasi officer in charge of spying the playwright and his girlfriend, a very tough and experienced individual who presumably has worked in many similar cases before, decides instead to protect them. Why he would do that, risking an end to his career and even a charge of treason?. Though his motivations are not altogether clear (he is an extremely reserved man), the change of heart seems to happen in part after listening the playwright playing a sonata on the piano after learning one of his colleagues committed suicide, after years of harassment by the government (he is also uneasy after finding out the Stasi is going for the playwright not for ideological reasons but in order that his beautiful girlfriend would then be available for the repellent minister of culture). As a metaphor from his newly found sensibility, he even steals a book from Brecht from the playwright's house, and is seen reading it. Is this believable? As much as the audience would be moved by a story of redemption, I think it's not. This is not a minor quibble, since this change of heart is really the main plot twist of the movie, on which all the film is build. The ending has a great closing line, but is also a bit difficult to accept. From what I know, few if any Stasi officers have expressed any remorse from what they did, and continue to defend their actions. That aside, this is a great film, from a young director that really knows how to make a movie that is both highly entertaining and thought provoking. And it has many great scenes that you vividly remember later. The best one: the young Stasi officer making a ill-timed Honecker joke in the cafeteria. It's a scene that's so good on so many levels. |
