Review: The Lives of Others

Harrowing, yet altogether humane, The Lives of Others is one of those rare European political dramas which will appeal to the uninitiated as well as the art house circuit, writes Rashid Irani.

The lives of others
Cast : Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Muhe
Direction : Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
Rating : ****

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It’s a bone chiller. This German film presents a disturbing report on life in a totalitarian regime. Harrowing, yet altogether humane, The Lives of Others is one of those rare European political dramas which will appeal to the uninitiated as well as the art house circuit. Gratifyingly, it’s being released in a fluent, English subtitled version.

Set in East Berlin during the mid-1980s, before the Wall came down, The Lives of Others won the Best Foreign Film Oscar last year, besides 40 other international awards. Making a powerful directorial debut, Donnersmarck charts the consequences of a round-the-clock surveillance vigil on a couple of artists who don’t always toe the party line.

An agent (Muhe) of the state police is assigned to keep tabs on playwright (Koch) and his long-time actress companion (Martina Gedeck). The stake-out expert becomes increasingly obsessed with the predicament of the defiant duo. He eventually shifts his own allegiance, triggering a crisis which culminates in an unexpectedly poignant climax. The moral redemption of the once odious official is as credible as it is touchingly optimistic.

The director’s own incisive screenplay depicts how the tentacles of tyranny can reach right into the homes of citizens. In a nerve-wracking scene, the secret service agents are targeted, too, when their political banter is overheard by their superiors.

Distinguished by an outstanding ensemble cast --- the veteran theatre actor Ulrich Muhe, who died shortly after the film was completed, is astonishing --- cracking pace and above all, its political forthrightness, here is evidence that German cinema can still pack in a hard punch. Danke schon, indeed.