The Lives of Others

Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muhe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2006

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: An officer (Ulrich Muhe) in East Berlin is assigned to spy on a playwright (Sebastian Koch) suspected of ulterior sympathies. However, as he gets closer and closer to his subjects, he begins to question his assignment.

Review:

Tim: This German film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 2007. It is a critically acclaimed movie that also won a great many other awards. It is a slow, focused drama. The movie really spends a great deal of time on its characters, developing them slowly, allowing their development to occur before our eyes. This is a very personal, human-oriented movie.

The film keeps the audience interested. The drama is heightened, and there are some seriously intense moments. There is a good balance of the dramatic and the suspenseful. This is also an important movie, because it really pulls the curtain back on the activity that was occuring in East Berlin in the early 1980s. I am glad this film was so critically acclaimed, and I hope more Americans seek this out. It is so important not to forget periods in history like this. The Lives of Others tells this story in a powerful way, and is also quite heartwarming as well (although not in your typical inspirational, feel-good type of way).

The cast are all quite good. Ulrich Muhe makes the film work with his quiet, subdued and restrained performance. He is excellent on screen. Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck are both quite good as well. The entire supporting cast works well. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (whew, that's a mouthful) does an excellent job allowing the cast to be effective.

This film isn't perfect, however. As so often happens with these "important" movies, the film drags on far too long. At 137 minutes, this isn't the easiest movie to get through. American audiences typically don't like reading subtitles (a fact that makes me very sad), but I'll admit I started to get a bit weary after almost 2 1/2 hours. I would have liked a few more intense scenes, as there are long stretches of pure character development (while great, this needs to be balanced out a bit).

The Lives of Others is still a very good movie. I highly recommend it, especially because it'll get most Americans out of their comfort zone. That is one of the best qualities of movies, and this one will accomplish that.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Water, After the Wedding, Pan's Labyrinth