The Lives of Others

Monday, December 10, 2007

Ok, here we go. Finally. The first "new" movie I've watched since starting this blog that I would actually classify as great. I was going to congratulate myself for finally picking a great one off of Netflix, until I remembered that my dad actually got this. Damn.

So, I tried to write about this last night, but I was out of it or something, and all that came out was a bunch of nonsense. It was basically a long, yet vague, synopsis.

That's not what I started this blog for. Fuck synopsizing. I'm not writing professional reviews. I'm here to document all the movies I watch, and comment on them if I feel like it. What matters is that I understand these entries.

Moving on. The Lives of Others is definitely worth commenting on. I think a major part of it's appeal comes from the main character. I'm fascinated by cold, emotionally withdrawn or seemingly empty characters, and I'm a sucker for movies about loneliness. Wiesler, the main character of The Lives of Others, doesn't betray much emotion, and what little life he has seems pathetic. He has no friends, and when he asks a hooker to stay with him a few extra minutes to just hang out, she says she has to leave to meet another appointment.

It's 1984 in East Germany, and Wiesler is part of the secret police. The movie deals with his spying on a German author named Dreyman. By listening in and spying on the author's every private moment, Wiesler slowly begin to care about Dreyman, and to question his own actions and the actions of his government.

There is, obviously, a heavy political element to this movie, but I was a lot more interested in the emotional side of the tale. The actor playing Wiesler does a great job of conveying a lot of information about his character without using much emotion or dialogue. Wiesler is a limited man in terms of his feelings, but the performance suggests a great depth of loneliness and emptiness.


The film is captivating throughout, moving back and forth between character study and thriller, but I was surprised at how touching the ending was. The movie is low key and reserved, even as the thriller elements of the story build. Certain plot points, that could be melodramatic in another movie, are curiously muted, as we witness them from Wiesler's perspective. What's crucial is the way the movie lets us understand this sad, lonely man. The final scene simply involves a written message being received by Wiesler, but our knowing of what the message means, and what it means to Wiesler, is incredibly moving. The movie never pushes for big drama or forces any emotion, yet achieves great emotional power on it's own subtle way.

I think this will make the list of the all time great movies about lonely or empty characters, right up there with Le Samourai and Brokeback Mountain. Unlike the others, The Lives of Others leaves us with some hope, maybe a final sense of connection in the end. Yup, a great movie.