The Lives of Others

Debut director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck presents a resonate drama about surveillance tactics of the Stasi, the secret police in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the effects of their eavesdropping on Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a subversive playwright. Equal time is given to Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muehe) the blank-slate bureaucrat assigned to listen in and report on Dreyman’s activities that include an intimate romance with his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck). Donnersmarck’s confident direction, and exemplary ensemble performances, suggest a fundamental question about why governmental wiretapping seems fascistic and indefensible when performed in other countries, but somehow permissible at home.
Rated R. 137 mins. (A-) (Four Stars)