Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

Year: 2006
Country: Germany

*** *** *** *** ***

There are movies that are touching, but that’s what they only end up doing: touch; they never go past your skin (e.g., My Best Friend’s Wedding, North Country). There are also a few movies that do go past your skin, but fall short at piercing through your soul (e.g., Love Actually, Magnifico, Atonement). But every once in a while, you get lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) and you get to see a movie that pierces through so deep it speaks with your soul (e.g., Jerry Maguire, Magnolia). This is the case for me with The Lives of Others.

Set in 1984 in East Berlin, an agent of the Stasi spying on a playwright and his lover becomes engrossed with their lives that he ends up challenged as to where his loyalties lie. Sure, there’s nothing much in the premise that could indicate a life-altering experience, but how the events unfold in the story is just breathtaking. By the end of it, I got to wonder if it is really that possible to give up someone you love over your own freedom and passion. And in life, just how good enough is a few choices? And just how much sacrifice does it take to be a good person? The Lives of Others inspires those kinds of questions. I think now that if a movie can inspire questions like those in me, then perhaps it deserves a spot in my top ten.

Someone wise once told me that there are no good or bad movies; just movies you learn more from. I think it’s quite chilling if you learn something about yourself just by watching a movie. And The Lives of Others indeed is chilling in this regard.

*** *** *** *** ***

Written and Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur