‘The Lives of Others” a German film written and directed by first timer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck,gives us a srartling and satisfying perspective of humanism through the eyes of a Stasi captain(secret service of communist East Germany) in the early 90’s before the fall of Berlin Wall. The film is indeed crafted in a masterpiece way depicting a way where two men touch each other’s lives without ever meeting or sharing a word. This is not a story that depicts the oppressiveness or the truants of Communist East Germany in 80s but a story which makes us realize that even imperfect human beings (counting all of us) can sometime make themselves listen from their heart and make choices or decisions that will make them dwell among others ,as well as themselves ,to live their lives.
The film begins in a school or college, where a Stasi expert( Ulrich) was shown teaching to the students about different ways of interrogation – what to ask, how to ask etc. In no time, at the behest of Minister Bruno Hemp, Gerd Weisler( Ulrich) has been charged with a new assignment, to monitor the life of a famous playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend Christa-Maria , who has become an object of obsession for a senior government official(Hemp), even though the couple have a spotless record of obedience and compliance. So Weisler and his crew sets up, installing the necessary network bugging Georg’s apartment hoping to capture Georg doing something “subversive,” and to ultimately bring an end to the playwright’s work and freedom.
But the unthinkable happens, Weisler comes to know how conflicted Georg feels torn between politics and career . Weisler soon finds out that the real reason why Dreyman is being spied on is that the minister Hempf ,was totally infatuated with Georg’s girlfriend, which destroys his motivation .. Eventually he becomes consumed by their lives, falls into kind of love with the actress . Wiesler hears the way Dreyman fights to help his close friend – a theatrical director – get off the government’s black-list and back to work, and how that director’s eventual suicide leads Dreyman to break his silence and submit a political essay to a western publication.
And in a moving sequence of events, Wiesler's empathy for the writer and his girlfriend has grown over time, and starts editing his reports to cover their tracks, coming to the decision to risk his life in protecting theirs.
This isn’t the only story. “ The Lives of Others “ is also a story about a couple with secrets, too heavy to bear for themselves. It’s a story of how fragile humans are, how susceptible are they to fear ,their capacity for compassion and change. But , at the end, von Donnersm succeeded in bringing us a moment of boundless joy from a story which takes place in a joyless world.
