The lives of others (Das Leben der Anderen, in original) e un film nemtesc din 2006, de regizorul Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck si ocupa locul 58 in lista celor mai bune 250 de filme din toate timpurile de pe imdb. Din punctul meu de vedere, intra in categoria filmelor despre organizarea sociala si raporturile interumane alienate si alienante din regimurile totalitare. In categoria asta as include Pianistul, Lista lui Schindler, Concertul. Pe toate le-am vazut si mi s-au parut remarcabile si unice, in felul lor. Le apropie interesul pentru acelasi subiect, calitatea interpretarii, viziunea panoramatica si subiectiva si prezentarea vietii artistilor intr-o lume unde libertatea de expresie e clamata dar interzisa si pedepsita aspru.
In linii mari, filmul e povestea unui informator foarte apropiat de socialistii din partid care incepe sa supravegheze un scriitor la ordinele unui superior in rang. In timpul anchetei, acesta saboteaza investigatia si incropeste versiuni credibile dar false de rapoarte pentru superiori. Dintr-un alt punct de vedere, filmul prezinta modul de raportare al intelectualilor la sistem : abnegatie, revolta ( mocnita sau directa) , frica etc.
Ce e diferit aici, fata de filmele pe care le-am amintit, e punctul de vedere. Protagonistul nu mai e de partea binelui in mod vadit. Face parte din tabara asupritorilor. Totusi, nu executa ordine masinal , ci oberva critic. Continua ca execute ordinele pentru ca e slujba lui si actioneaza ca un profesionist in domeniul sau (spionaj). Incepe sa faca miscari gresite cand se implica emotional si se ataseaza de povestile oamenilor pe care ii spioneaza ( cuplul celebru scriitor-actrita).
Judecam binele, ca si raul, subiectiv.Subiectiv e opusul lui universal. Ne raportam la fapte in spatiu, in timp , in sistemul politic si in comunitate. Lumea e scena conexiunilor intre lucruri si a contradictiilor compatibile. Binele este si actioneaza in interiorul raului asa cum yin se afla in yang.
Mie mi-a placut foarte mult filmul : curat( bine inchegat si foarte bine filmat) si captivant (destule intrigi cat sa mentina interesul si celor mai putin inclinati spre austeritate si claritate).
Ce spune un cinefil de pe imdb (ii citez parerea pentru ca e interesanta si in acord cu felul in care am receptat si eu Vietile celorlalti) :
Because this movie deals with recent German history, some German comments about it get sidetracked into minute historical discussions. Forget them; Das Leben der Anderen is an outstanding movie that should be seen everywhere.
The former East Germany, a relatively small country of 16 million people, was controlled by the most sophisticated, cunning, and thorough secret police the world has ever seen, the East German Ministerium für Staatsicherheit, or “Stasi.” The Stasi had about 90,000 employees — a staggering number for such a small population — but even more importantly, recruited a network of hundreds of thousands of “unofficial employees,” who submitted secret reports on their co-workers, bosses, friends, neighbors, and even family members. Some did so voluntarily, but many were bribed or blackmailed into collaboration.
Das Leben der Anderen, (“The Life of Others”) German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut, builds this painful legacy into a fascinating, moving film. In its moral seriousness, artistic refinement, and depth, Das Leben der Anderen simply towers over other recent German movies, and urgently deserves a wide international release. The fulcrum of the movie (but probably not its most important character) is Georg Dreyman, an up-and-coming East German playwright in his late 30s. Played by the square-jawed Sebastian Koch, Dreyman is an (apparently) convinced socialist who’s made his peace with the regime. His plays are either ideologically neutral or acceptable, and he’s even received State honors.
Although he is a collaborator, he is also a Mensch. He uses his ideological “cleanliness” to intervene on behalf of dissidents such as his journalist friend Paul Hauser (Hans-Uwe Bauer). These unfortunates must contend with every humiliation a totalitarian state can invent: their apartments are bugged, friends and family are recruited to inform on them, and chances to publish or perform can be extinguished by one stray comment from a Central Committee member. The most recalcitrant can be kicked out of the country and stripped of their citizenship, like the singer songwriter Wolf Biermann.
Dreyman lives in a shabby-genteel, book-filled apartment with his girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), a renowned actress who often appears in his plays. At the beginning of the movie, Dreyman himself comes under the regime’s suspicion, for reasons that become clear only later. The fearful machinery of the Stasi rumbles to life: his movements are recorded, and his apartment bugged. The Stasi had bugging down to a science: a team of meticulously-trained agents swoop into your apartment when you’re not there, install miniscule, undetectable listening devices in every single room — including the bathroom — and vanish in less than an hour, leaving no trace. Agents set up an secret electronic command post nearby, keeping a written record of every joke, argument, or lovemaking session.
The “operative process” against Dreyman is overseen by Stasi captain Gerd Wiesler, played by Ulrich Mühe, an actor from the former East who was himself once in the Stasi’s cross-hairs. Captain Wiesler starts the film as a colorless, icy, tight-lipped professional who shows no mercy in fighting the “enemies of socialism”: if he needs to interrogate a suspect for 10 hours without sleep to get a confession, he will do so — and then place the seat-cover the suspect sat on in a vacuum jar in case the miscreant should later need to be tracked by bloodhounds. At night, Captain Wiesler returns to his tiny apartment in an grubby, anonymous high-rise. He settles himself among his inexpressibly drab furniture, eats a meal squeezed out of a plastic tube while watching reports about agricultural production, and then goes to bed alone.
As Captain Wiesler listens to Dreyman and his girlfriend he begins to like them, or perhaps envy the richness and depth of their lives in comparison with his own. Perhaps he also begins to wonder why a stranger should have the right to become privy to Dreyman’s most intimate secrets: his occasional impotence, his girlfriend’s infidelities, his artistic crises. At the same time, though, Wiesler is under pressure: a Central Committee official has made it clear to Wiesler and his toadying supervisor Lieutenant Colonel Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), that Dreyman has to go down.
I won’t discuss more plot details, as there are unexpected twists. Each of the main characters is drawn deeper into the conflict between Dreyman and the State, and each is torqued by loyalty conflicts that intensify as the pressure increases. The cast is outstanding. Sebastian Koch finds the right combination of poetic detachment and watchful sophistication for Dreyman. Martina Gedeck, as his girlfriend, has the most challenging role, since she’s buffeted from all sides: by her suspicious partner, by Stasi agents trying to turn her, and by a lecherous Culture Minister. Ulrich Mühe plays the Stasi agent’s transformation with reserve, only hinting at the stages in his character’s secret, but decisive, change of heart.
Director von Donnersmarck, a blue-blooded West German, has re-created the gray, drained look of the former East, and the nature of Stasi intimidation, with a fidelity that has earned the praise of East Germans. His pacing is relaxed, but doesn’t drag; although there are a few longueurs, most scenes unfold at just the right pace, and there are several great set-pieces. One is a bone-rattling episode in the Stasi canteen in which a young recruit is caught telling a joke about East German premier Erich Honecker. Another is the penultimate scene, a masterstroke in which Dreyman gains access to his massive Stasi file, while reading it, suddenly understands episodes of his own life which had never made sense to him before. The ending is perfectly judged; bittersweet and moving without swelling strings or teary confessions.
Das Leben der Anderen is an outstanding movie, probably a great one. If it’s not picked up for international distribution, it will be a bitter loss for thousands of potential moviegoers in other countries.
Idei din Haos 