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The Lives of Others (Widescreen)

The Lives of Others (Widescreen) Cover

UPC: 00043396170858
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

This critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) is the erotic, emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls "a nail-biter of a thriller!"

Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman, were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg's stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer's apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives — as well as his — in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is "the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head."

Review:

"The Lives of Others works beautifully, both as a social and psychological drama and as a taut, tightly wired thriller." Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Review:

"A potent narrative about the transformative effect of involvement in other people's stories." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Review:

"[A] supremely intelligent, unfailingly honest look at a shadowy period in recent German history." A. O. Scott, New York Times

Special Features:

Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scenes optional commentary
Interview with Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
The Making Of "The Lives of Others"
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What Our Viewers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Grady Harp, August 25, 2007 (view all comments by Grady Harp)
The Survival of the Individual Under the Cloud of Totalitarianism

Das Leben der Anderen (The Live of Others) is a powerful film that opens a window to the West of what life was like in East Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall. It is a tense yet balanced work by newcomer writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck who manages to present a tense story of espionage, suspense, intrigue, and political danger without the need for car chases, explosions, gunfire, or any of the usual accoutrements that pulse through other stories of this nature. Instead von Donnersmarck shows us the interior lives of his characters, both those working with the East German government and Secret Police and those who struggled to survive individuality. One of the primary jobs of the Secret Police (Stasi) was to spy on informers and those who would leak information about East Germany to the West. One fact that was kept under lock and key was the high rate of suicide, especially among artists who could not bear the crushing eye of the Eastern police, that would be devastating information if leaked into the press of the West: this forms the nidus for the story of this film.

It is 1984 and one agent - Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe - who sadly died in July 2007 of stomach cancer) is assigned the duty of spying on popular playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his live-in girlfriend, brilliant actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). Dreyman is a friend of blacklisted director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert) and when Jerska commits suicide Dreyman feels compelled to get in the information to the West into a popular magazine in hopes that action will be taken. Wiesler alters his spying routine when he discovers that the Stasi official to whom he reports has different designs on Georg and Christa-Maria and his spirit shifts subtly in support of the artists. It is this inner struggle within Wiesler that alters the manner in which his spying information is reported and Wiesler's courageous deeds alter the Stasi plans to destroy the artists' venture. The manner in which Wiesler interplays with the Stasi and covers for the artists is a towering example of the dignity of the individual human soul threatened by the worst of circumstances. The results of Wiesler's decisions alter with the fall of the Wall in 1989 in a deeply touching yet very subtle way.

The technical aspects of this film - cinematography, pacing, lighting, editing, and the splendid musical scored my Gabriel Yared - are as fine as any film created by seasoned directors. The manner in which von Donnersmarck keeps every actor focused on the inner personality, as much by body language and silences as well as by dialogue, is astonishingly fine. This is a fascinating story, told with elegant understatement and most worthy of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp
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Product Details

UPC:
00043396170858
Studio:
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Publication Date:
2007-08-21
Credits:
Koch, Sebastian
Binding:
DVD
Rating:
R
DVD Features:
Color, English Subtitles, French Subtitles, German Soundtrack, Spanish Subtitles, Widescreen
Region:
US and Canada
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