"That's what this film is all about. Just keep trying to be good, and that way at least we won't be all bad."
F. D., writer/director of 'The Lives of Others'
What an achievement by Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck, son of Leo-Ferdinand Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck, former president of the German division of the Order of Malta. Can you believe that the six foot nine Florian, fluent in five languages, holder of an MA from Oxford in philosophy, politics, and economics, was only 27 years old when he sat down to write the first draft of "Lives of Other’s" in his uncle’s thousand year old Austrian monastery? And that he managed to bring in this, his first feature length film, for under 2 million U.S. dollars?
While there wasn't a part of the movie that I didn't find fascinating, what I connected with most was the unfolding character of Captain Weisler as he seemed to grow a new soul while in the attic . I felt like his spirit had been, up till then, a dried up old sponge and the instant that moisture touched it (in this case the rich feelings and emotions of all the characters he was listening to) it just expanded.
BMH, BMM, DNA. (see Key on right side for abbreviations)
June 07, 2008
The Lives of Others -- Discussion Has Begun!
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18 comments:
This is a great film, but it gets better when you listen to the director's commentary. (If you have time to watch it twice, watch again with commentary.)
One part that I almost missed comes at the end, when the plawright Dreyman reads his Stasi file. While in real life he was writing counter-revoultionary essays that will bring down the government, Capt Wiesler (the Stasi officer who is listening to his every word) reports that he was writing a play to comemorate the 40th anniversary of the revolution. Wiesler, who begins the film as rigid, empty and artless actually writes a play to cover up. I guess Meuller had an artist in him the whole time....
I agree with David, if anyone still has the DVD the director's comments are at least as fascinating as the film itself and that is saying a lot. He shares with us all the details of casting, location choices, color, costuming, soundtrack and the backround stories of each and every actor in the film including some of the bit parts. There isn't a detail that the director didn't take control of and why and how he made these choices is riveting and informative whether you are into filmaking or not.
Wow, what an amazing movie. It so vividly portrayed the ominous and hellish experience of living in East Germany during the GDR. Watching how the couples' relationship was blown apart by the realities of living within such a system was heartbreaking. From what I knew already about the GDR through both historical reading and through having a relative who's wife had grown up in E. Germany during that era (she was in her thirties when the wall came down) this seems to be a pretty accurate depiction.Unfortunately I did not get a chance to watch it with the director's commentary, from what you say I really should rent it again! (BMH)(LLI)(WWW)
You sure know how to pick them Lee. Another winner. Even though it apparently won so many awards including the Oscar for best foreign film in 07 it never passed our radar!
We did watch it through the second time and like David and Lee wrote, it was well worth it, especially all the backround information on the actors. The fact that almost every one of them had been affected in a very profound way by the Stasi regime made their performances and the film itself all the more powerful.
A WONDERFUL FILM! SOME YEARS AGE I MADE A TRIP TO PRAGUE AND THE SMALL TOWN OF USTI. PRAGUE WAS INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL. USTI STILL HAD REMNANTS OF THE COMMUNIST REGIME. CROSSING OVER TO MUNICH AT THE BORDER WAS SURPRISINGLY FEARFUL AND TENSE(BEING JEWISH DID NOT HELP) CANNOT TELL YOU HOW UNCOMFORTABLE I WAS . SAW NOTHING AF BEAUTY THERE AND COULDNT WAIT TO GET OUT
THAT GOES BACK TO WALKING ON WATER AND THE SINS OF THE FATHER.
SURELY WE ALL KNOW THAT THIS GENERATION OF GERMANS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH SUCH HORROR ANYMORE THAN WE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH SLAVERY. HOWEVER,"FEELINGS HAVE NO BRAINS"
IMAGINE THE COURAGE TO RESIST A REGIME LIKE THAT ,EVEN IN SECRET.
AND TO WATCH CAPT. WIESLER IS TO KNOW THAT HUMANITY RESIDES IN ALL OF US.
LEE, PLEASE FEEL BETTER. REALLY GOT A KICK OUT OF THE NEW PICS
HI, IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I CHECKED IN. I CAME ACROSS THIS BATCH OF CRITICISMS OF THE FILM IN WIKIPEDIA AND THOUGHT SOME OF YOU MIGHT FIND THEM INTERESTING:
"Slavoj Zizek, reviewing the film for In These Times, wrote that it softpedals the oppressiveness of the German Democratic Republic, as when a dissident confronts the minister of culture and doesn't seem to face any consequences for it. Zizek also says the character of the playwright is simply too naive to be believable: "One cannot but recall here a witty formula of life under a hard Communist regime: Of the three features — personal honesty, sincere support of the regime and intelligence — it was possible to combine only two, never all three. [...] The problem with Dreyman is that he does combine all three features."[22]
Although the opening scene of the film is set in Hohenschönhausen prison, the movie could not be filmed there because Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial, refused to give von Donnersmarck permission. Knabe objected to "making the Stasi man into a hero" and tried to persuade von Donnersmarck to change the movie. Donnersmarck cited Schindler's List as an example of such a plot development being possible. Knabe's answer: "But that is exactly the difference. There was a Schindler. There was no Wiesler."[23] The East German dissident songwriter Wolf Biermann was guardedly enthusiastic about the film, writing in a March 2006 article in Die Welt: "The political tone is authentic, I was moved by the plot. But why? Perhaps I was just won over sentimentally, because of the seductive mass of details which look like they were lifted from my own past between the total ban of my work in 1965 and denaturalisation in 1976." [24]
Anna Funder, the author of a book about the Stasi (Stasiland), wrote in a review of the movie for The Guardian that it was not possible for a Stasi operative to have hidden much information from superiors because Stasi employees themselves were watched and operated in teams, seldom if ever working alone. She noted that in his "Director's statement", Donnersmarck wrote, "More than anything else, The Lives of Others is a human drama about the ability of human beings to do the right thing, no matter how far they have gone down the wrong path." Funder replied: "This is an uplifting thought. But what is more likely to save us from going down the wrong path again is recognising how human beings can be trained and forced into faceless systems of oppression, in which conscience is extinguished." Nevertheless, Funder said, the movie is a "superb film" despite not being true to reality.[23]
Clive Davis, writing in his blog at The Spectator magazine's Web site, said the film did not convincingly show how Wiesler would have decided to change his ways: "What we saw was a promising idea sabotaged by a muddled and undernourished script."[25] "There was simply no serious motivation provided for this transformation. It was almost as if the writer figured he didn't really need to bother."
I took everyone's advice and watched it again with the commentary including the special features. 2 Thumbs up on that. Anyone hear the part where F.H. von Donnersmarck talks about his awe of actor Sebastian Koch's beauty and talent? He tells how there was a lot of press 'gossip' about the two of them being a gay couple etc. which F.H. seemed to have gotten a kick out of. And who can blame him? Once again, another stunning actor bringing my memory back to "It's Raining Men"....Hallelujah.
Lee, the 'Wierd Stuff' is Weird Stuff! It would be great if there were captions to these...Feel better soon.
For some reason this movie did not work for me and I can't figure out exactly why. I read the critiques that jackr sent in which were helpful and I am leaning in the direction that I didn't quite buy Captain Weisler's transformation. Perhaps had there been a little more backround about how he grew up or whatever to help us understand why these people seemed so shockingly NEW to him, like he never met a real human before? Which maybe he had not but I didn't have any context for believing in his changes. Still, I was compelled to watch, the acting was so good and even if it didn't seem quite real I was drawn in.
Hey Lee! Impressive website!I must admit I haven't heard of any of the movies listed.And it's Good to see you sharing your photographic talents with the world again.Sorry I didn't check it out earlier, things have been CRAZY CRAZY here in geek land. Jimmy.
Welcome 'hooplah', 'carolyn r.t.' and Yo Jimmy, better late than never! Nevertoosoon, you do have an eye for the men! Finetune, i'll definitely give the concept of captioning the photos some thought. Thanks for the input.
I did find the criticisms (thanks jackr) useful and most of them i can find some place where i could see their point except for Clive Davis's statement about "a muddled and undernourished script". I can't imagine a script being clearer than this one.
Bitsie, I wanted to compliment you on your posting. Thank you so much for sharing your personal experiences while travelling. I love how you expressed your sentiments in these lines:
"IMAGINE THE COURAGE TO RESIST A REGIME LIKE THAT ,EVEN IN SECRET.
AND TO WATCH CAPT. WIESLER IS TO KNOW THAT HUMANITY RESIDES IN ALL OF US."
You should have written the opening post instead of me this week!
'Muddled' script? Were we watching the same film Mr. Davis?
Hey Lee! I see you changed your original post, I am hoping that means you are feeling better?
Thanks Dana, I am indeed feeling a bit better and was able to rewrite my original post. Thanks to all of you for your concern and patience!Lee
Watching this I thought a lot about the current debate regarding privacy laws happening here in the good old U.S.A.
I‘d say this is a film all of us citizens should watch and think about in a very serious way. What role do the arts play in society, how key is their role in what we perceive as freedom?
I have to say, this is one of the finest examples of film making I have ever seen. I saw it in a pretty decent sized theatre last year and again this week on DVD. As powerful as the scenes were 'lifesize', (especially the ones with 'Weisler and cohort in the attic) I was impressed with how well they managed to convince even on a 27 inch screen. Like many, I was most taken with Weisler's transformation and the hope that this, though fictional, imparted. I don't think I could put it any better than this quote from a Netflix reviewer who goes by the name MJS:
"Whereas “The Godfather” is cited by many as the cinema’s finest depiction of a hardening of the human heart, “The Lives of Others” may well be one of the cinema’s finest depictions of the softening of the human heart ".
It certainly earned its' Oscar and I hope that word will reach more people that this is a TOP TEN, NTBM. (Not To Be Missed.)
Thanks for emphasizing the need to listen to the Director's Commentary. We rarely do and would have missed out on some surprising information.
Mr. F.M.G.C.G.H.D.(appreciate lee for providing the full name of the director AND his dad) certainly came from an interesting family backround and lived a unique and towering (6'9"!?!) life. Perhaps this is what enabled him to create such and outstanding film.
Speaking of unique and original: We couldn't believe the sign on the toilet when we blew it up and read it. And the Herman Hesse dolls? I agree with FineTune, some captions would be appreciated if possible.
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