2006 Winner, The Lives of Others

The Lives of Others

Director:  Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Distributed by:  Buena Vista International

Released:  March 2006

Country:  Germany

Quick:  Name a movie you have seen in the past five, ten, or even twenty years that had a realistic portrayal of communism.  I bet you can’t.  The only one I could even think of was 1999’s Animal Farm (which I have not seen), based on the George Orwell novel, and I’m not sure you can count talking animals as realistic anyway.  A few novels come to mind--Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, for example.  But when it comes to cinema, you are much more likely to see pro-communist films (like 2004’s The Motorcycle Diaries) or films critical of McCarthyism (or anti-anti-communism) (2015’s Trumbo; 2015's Good Night, and Good Luck) than anything that depicts the ugly reality of Marxism.  And if you read this blog you know that anti-Nazi films are as plentiful as the stars in the sky.

Napoleon, Animal Farm

The Lives of Others stands as a splendid variation to that trend.  Set in East Germany about a half decade before the Berlin Wall fell, The Lives of Others focuses on the work of a Stasi officer, Gerd Wiesler.  The Stasi was essentially East Germany’s version of the KGB, the secret police who kept the government informed of any non-conformity.  And Gerd is as good as it gets at what he does.  The movie opens with him teaching a class to some Stasi-wannabes on how to do an interrogation, and we can tell this guy takes his job seriously.  Gerd plays a recording to the class of himself doing an “interview,” and the interviewee begs for some sleep.  In the classroom, one wisenheimer asks, “Why not let him sleep?  It’s inhumane.”  Gerd answers the question politely, but puts a little X next to that guy’s name on the class chart.  We get the feeling it isn’t to give him bonus points for class participation.

You just made the list, buddy.

In pre-Glasnost East Germany, one had better watch what one says, and does, and especially writes.  Playwright Georg Dreyman has been a pretty good party guy, but somebody has it in for him, so Gerd is assigned to watch him.  A job like this seems super-Stasi to him, so Gerd is more than willing to see if Georg is as squeaky-clean a communist as he pretends to be.  This is going to require the full-on Big Brother treatment—microphones all over Georg’s apartment.  Georg is ready to spend hours listening to Georg type his plays, sleep, and get it on with his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria (in fact, one reason Georg is being targeted is to possibly get him out of the way so some big shot can slide in and scoop up Christa-Maria).  But Georg, of course, is not 100% on board with the communists these days and writes an article, published anonymously, that the government would find offensive.  It’s up to Gerd to find proof that Georg wrote it.

To go further with this review would be to spoil it somewhat, and this is one you should see.  But I will say that the movie’s climax takes place shortly before Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union, so we the viewers know communism’s days in East Germany are numbered.  This adds to the drama--will Georg survive under the communist heel until its reign is over?

 

Stasi emblem: They seem like fun people!

This movie is filled with slow-burning suspense that draws us in and then delivers.  The main characters are subtly drawn, and I especially enjoyed the minimalist acting of Ulrich Mühe (who died within a year of the release of this film), who plays Gerd.  Mühe plays Gerd like a real person—seemingly robotic in his ideological inflexibility on the surface, but whether his humanity will allow itself to surface is what is in question.  The Lives of Others gives us a peek into what it must have been like to live behind the Iron Curtain, but it also tells a great story.

The Title:  Das Leben der Anderen.  Like in Orwell's 1984, someone is always watching.

The Culture:  2014’s Ida gave us a peek into Poland toward the beginning of communism after World War II; this films shows that life wasn’t better toward the end of communism in East Germany.

Agenda Danger:  William F. Buckley, father of the modern conservative movement, remarked after watching the film, “I think that is the best movie I ever saw.”  So sure, you could say there is an agenda, but not an untruthful one.

Best Picture that year:  The Departed

Rating:  I don’t know if this was the best movie I ever saw (that would be The Godfather, in case you wanted to know), but it is one of the best foreign ones I’ve ever seen.

1996 Winner, Kolya

Kolya

Director:  Jan Svěrák

Distributed by:  Space Films

Released:  May 1996

Country:  Czech Republic

What was it like living behind the Iron Curtain before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990?  In Ida, we saw Poland to be a black-and-white joyless enterprise; in The Lives of Others, East Germany is a police state where nothing is private and everyone is subject to government scrutiny.  Now with Kolya, we turn to Czechoslovakia just a couple of years before the Velvet Revolution of late 1989, which spelled the end of the communist system there.

One thing we know is the government didn’t have much of a sense of humor there.  Milan Kundera wrote a novel set early in the Cold War called The Joke, about a guy in 1950’s Czechoslovakia who unadvisedly makes a smart-alack crack about the government, written on a postcard for all to see.  That mistake led to banishment from the party and a few years working the mines.

 

Louka giving "cello lessons"

I guess things lightened up a bit by the late 80’s when this movie is set, because by the time Louka, a 55-year-old bachelor played by the guy who wrote the screenplay of this movie, Zdeněk Svěrák, makes a joke displeasing to the government, it only costs him his job playing cello for the Czech Philharmonic.  But don’t worry too much about Louka.  He makes money playing at funerals (hitting on his female co-musicians) and giving music lessons (creepily hitting on—and scoring with!—a young blonde student).   Still, he always seems strapped for cash.  A friend offers him a deal:  Marry a Russian girl trying to stay in Czechoslovakia for some serious dough.  Louka, reluctant at first, agrees.  He marries the girl, who comes along with a chain-smoking aunt an  a little boy named  . . . Kolya.

 

Big Daddy:  A bit less classy

He’s told this set up will only last for a short period of time, but two things happen—the wife splits for her boyfriend in West Germany, and then the aunt splits—permanently.  As in dead.  She dies.

So now we have a womanizing bachelor who doesn’t speak Russian stuck with a kid who doesn’t speak a word of Czech.  Louka doesn’t have a clue how to parent, and Kolya is lost away from his Russian home.  Like a cross between Kramer vs. Kramer and Adam Sandler’s Big Daddy, Louka and Kolya’s bumpy road from semi-strangers to father/son is the heart of this film.  This isn’t an outright comedy, but there are amusing moments, like the reaction of Louka and his mother when Kolya is happy to see troops from the hated Russian Army simply because they’re Russian.

The story here is nothing unique, and Louka is not all that different

Kramer vs. Kramer:  A little more weepy

than, say, Walter Matthau in 1976’s The Bad News Bears, cantankerous curmudgeon with a heart of gold.  But this was a fun film to watch, and another look into Europe just before the fall of the Soviet Union. The film, directed by the star’s son, Jan Svěrák, is well-paced with just the right tone for this type of dramatic comedy—humor that isn’t too broad and no sentiment that would make you roll your eyes.

The Title:  The name of the kid.  Kolya means “Of the conquering army” in Russian.

Bad News Bears:  A little more boozy

The Culture:  Czechoslovakia in the late 80’s may not have been East Germany or Russia, but we are reminded subtlety and repeatedly that this is a communist state with an authoritarian government and tangible restrictions to on its people's freedoms. 

Agenda Danger:  Socialism is socialism.  If you’re an American who felt the Bern this election year, it wouldn’t hurt to be reminded about how this thing really works.  The joy expressed at the end of the film about the Velvet Revolution and the end of communism is portrayed as very real, and shared by the oppressed and the oppressors alike.

Best Picture that year:  The English Patient.

Rating:  A feel-good movie to see.  Maybe you won’t be thinking about it for any length of time when you are done and maybe you wouldn’t put it into any kind of Top Ten lists.  But definitely an entertaining story with likable characters.