You are currently browsing the daily archive for April 1st, 2007.
Spring is very much in the air, and many restaurants are opening their outdoor bars. I headed for a place which has such a little gem in its backyard. As I was waiting for my friend, sipping a glass of just passable Pinot Noir, geographically challenged Wall Street Trader started talking to me. (I do meet a fair deal of people who insist placing Croatia at some interesting locations around the World). I sincerely hope that he finds his way to L.A., where he is moving to seek his fortune, now that New York City has burnt him out.
Walking towards the movie theater, I noticed that the police were out in full force, the blue lights glaring from the car tops. Groups of teenagers were congregating in front of the usual hang out spots – Starbucks, record store, cyber cafe. As the policeman on a bike rode through the crowd, cigarettes were hastily being extinguished, but the unmistakable smell of tobacco uncomfortably lingered.
I saw The Lives Of Others , a film that has won three European Film Awards – Best Picture, Best Screenwriter and Best Actor – as well as L.A. Critics Association award for the Best Foreign Film.
A powerful film about the bleak, monochromatic existence in East Germany. The country is run by the feared Stasi who see and hear everything. Reminiscent of Kafka, this bureaucratic machine persecutes all who disagree with its dogma. Capt. Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) is an apparatchik, an intelligent man brainwashed by the system, living a loveless life of an automaton. When he finishes his work indoctrinating new agents, interrogating in Stasi cells or eavesdropping on the lives of others, he returns home to a grey socialist totem of apartment blocks. In this cold space he exchanges money for the most basic human contact, devoid of any emotion.
The film documents the metamorphosis of Wiesler into a human being. The catalyst of change is art. Through spying on the lives of a writer (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck), Wiesler ‘borrows’ Brecht and his transformation begins. The turning point is the moment when he hears A Sonata for a Good Man. The tears are running down his cheek as he changes into a man who forms his own opinions, feels and cares.
The plot is intricately woven around fears, passions, lusts, loves, jealousy, inner motives and social powers of its characters. They are constantly faced with dilemmas and choices that could change their lives for ever. Everything builds up to an inevitable crescendo.
I rate this film 5 out of 5 Stars and will be extremely disappointed if I do not see it as a Nominee for the Oscars in the Foreign Film category.
