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Unlike other recent films portraying life in East Germany (Good Bye Lenin!, Sonnenallee), Das Leben der Anderen does not sugar-coat life in East Germany. It dramatizes the true cost that citizens of the German Democratic Republic had to pay for living in their communist dictatorship. We learn how much time and effort the Stasi (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, "secret police") spent on spying on East German citizens — and how this impacted both the targets and the spies.
The story of HGW XX/7
Das Leben der Anderen ("The Lives of Others") won a Best Picture "Lola" and six other awards from the German Film Academy. It was declared the Best European Film of 2006 by the European Film Academy and won the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Film.Before filming began, West German director/screenwriter Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (whose mother was born in East Germany) spent several years researching the background for Das Leben der Anderen. He wanted to depict a more accurate version of life behind the Berlin Wall and avoid the light-hearted clichés found in previous films on the subject. (See my review of Good Bye Lenin!.)
Early in the film an East German functionary tells someone, "Menschen verändern sich nicht." ("People don't change.") But as the film continues, we discover how people can indeed change, specifically how some dedicated, party-line (linientreu) East Germans came to see the hypocritical, hollow shell that their government had become. Thanks to a superb cast, those changes are very believable.
At first it seems that playwright Georg Dreyman is the central figure in this story, but soon it becomes apparent that the real story is about Stasi agent Captain Gerd Wiesler, code name "HGW XX/7." By observing and immersing himself in the life of Dreyman, HGW XX/7 undergoes a slow metamorphosis. The contrast between the life of the observer and the observed is very sharp. Unmarried Captain Wiesler's cold, Spartan life and home could not be more different than the life and home of Georg Dreyman and his live-in actress girlfriend.
"Die Sonate vom Guten Menschen"
From his lonely listening post in the attic of Dreyman's apartment building, Wiesler can hear every word that Georg and Christa-Maria utter. Video cameras show who enters and leaves the building. On a typewriter he routinely and meticulously records the daily mundane events of Dreyman's private life: "Danach vmtl. Geschlechtsverkehr." ("Afterwards prob. sexual intercourse.") For a time there seems to be no reason for this intensive surveillance. But then Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert) commits suicide.
Albert was one of Georg's best friends. Earlier Georg had complained to a government official about Jerska being banned from working as a stage director. He voiced his opinion that such a ban was too strict for whatever Jerska did. When he used the word "Berufsverbot" ("work ban"), he was told that there is no such thing in the GDR, that he should be more careful in his choice of words. It is one of the key moments in his transformation from someone who accepts the status quo to someone who fights the system.
That typewriter will play a key role later. In the meantime we learn why Dreyman is under surveillance. The sleazy Culture Minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) is lusting after Christa-Maria and wants to find a way to get Dreyman out of the way. Soon the lives of these people and others get tangled together, usually without their knowledge. It is one more suicide and several years later, after the Berlin Wall has fallen, before Dreyman will discover just how much his life and that of agent HGW XX/7 had interacted. I will leave out any more plot details, so as not to spoil the film for viewers, but the film's interesting ending is touching without being sappy.
Recreating East Berlin
The DVD
The Region 2/PAL (Germany) DVD release is in the original German without any subtitles. (U.S. DVD and Blu-ray release: Aug. 21, 2007.) There are two optional audio commentaries: one by the director/screenwriter and one by Ulrich Mühe, who portrays the main Stasi agent HGW XX/7. There is a separate descriptive audio track (in German) for the blind ("Hörfilmfassung für Sehbehinderte"). Note for high school teachers of German: Some nudity and scenes that may not be suitable for students under 18. The German rating is "ab 12" (age 12 and up), but the U.S. rating is "R."
The digital image transfer is very good, much better than a few recent German DVDs I have reviewed.
Bottom Line: I give this film four out of five stars because it's a very good film. It lost a few points only because the plot has some minor gaps, and the film could have been edited a bit more tightly to move the story along faster.