• The Lives of Others

12/4/18 (Tues), Tokyo

A chilling German film set in the late 1980s in the pre-liberated East about the surveillance of a playwright suspected of dissident activity. His home is secretly wired by the Stasi, and agents are ruthless in ensuring its success, warning a busybody neighbor, for instance, that any word from her will prevent her son from getting into the university. The main agent and his assistant listen carefully to every utterance 24 hours a day, keeping detailed notes on all conversations and activity (“suspect and his girlfriend presumably engage in intercourse”). But this soon becomes a story about the listener rather than the listened as the agent charged with the case – himself threatened by his superiors if he doesn’t find something incriminating – grows increasingly sympathetic with his charge. The web of betrayals and lies leads in the end to death, shame and disgrace, leavened only by an act of deep self-sacrifice. It is just a few years later, after the Berlin Wall has fallen, when the playwright is able to view his files and learn the thoroughness of the scrutiny and corruption as well as the fate of the investigator.

A portrayal of the suffocating power of the Communist state: how it creates suspicion among citizens, its pettiness and paranoia, and its ability to crush the will of anyone in its way. The fate of the playwright’s actress-girlfriend is particularly wrenching, but no one on any side is untouched by the system’s cruelty. Ulrich Mühe was excellent as the main agent in his transformation from icy confidence to self-doubt to resignation. Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck as the playwright and actress were both solid as well in a strong overall cast. A superior film.