Thomas’s review published on Letterboxd:
No idea why I only rated this 3,5 stars the first time. “The Lives of Others” blew me away on this rewatch.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck´s debut film is a masterclass in dramatic filmmaking. It´s an immersive and highly cinematic recreation of 80s East Germany that vividly shows the bleak, frightening, and depressing reality of living in an oppressive surveillance state, while also telling a gripping, inspiring, and soul-stirring story that reminds us of the better angels of our nature. Now, it doesn´t matter if a story like this, a Stasi agent turns into a protector for the people he spies on, has really happened, could really happen, or is in any form realistic. It´s about the idea and what it says about us that we find this idea so powerful. The “ecstatic truth”, as Werner Herzog likes to call it. It´s the idea that exposure to art, beauty, and free thought can change a person, that good can emerge from evil, and that one good person can make a difference. Things we like to believe in, maybe need to believe in.
The character change of Stasi Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler is subtle, just as the whole movie is full of subtleties. It´s a film of unspoken, deeply felt truths and slowly shifting worldviews. Von Donnersmarck´s direction is precise and surehanded and cinematography, blocking, editing, production design, and score all have an engrossing cinematic quality. Ulrich Mühe delivers the performance of a lifetime, and his face is the face of the movie but you also shouldn´t overlook the important contributions of Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, and Ulrich Tukur. The entire cast is fantastic. And as the cherry on top, the film also has a pitch-perfect ending.
“The Lives of Others” is a powerful indictment of totalitarianism and an exhilarating ode to art, empathy, and the endurance of the human spirit. It´s without a doubt one of the finest German films of the 21st century.
