alexandral | The Lives of Others (Reply)

Internet troubles My home internet is down from yesterday afternoon. Oh, I am feeling so deprived!! I could not stay away – I created this entry at home in the Word editor and posting it now

Update EEEEEE! I am back home and my Internet is fixed. Doesn't it always feel so good when something was broken for a while and then is fixed?

Because I am so full with the love for "The Lives of Others" that I watched yesterday! I liked it so very very much! So brilliant and so moving emotionally at the same time.

Before I have watched this film I was wondering a little how so very simply looking German film could have won this year's Oscar for "Best foreign language film" over such amazing films as "Pan's labyrinth", "Water" and “After the Wedding”. But now I can understand it perfectly! Yes, the other films are good but "the Lives of Others" is outstanding, once in a life time (at least for me), film.

It is difficult for me to pin-point what hit me so much. This film is special in many ways: in it's very intricate and moving story, impeccable acting and fantastic cinematography. It's Cinematography proves the fact that a film doesn't have to be expensive to look good. I have read somewhere that the budget of "The Lives of Others" was only 2 million dollars! I particular liked the colour scheme (oh, so 80's!) and the way the space was used, especially in the scenes with Wiesler, conveying his emptiness and alienation.

But most important for me is the feeling that "The Lives of Others" left in me, realization that even one person can change the course of history, that it is not only about masses of people and economic laws as I used to believe for so long. If you can change one person's life for the better you can change the world. Little grey captain Wiesler changed the life of colourful and shining poet Dreymann, he gave him a gift, an opportunity to escape the clutches of Stasi, to live, be free and write. It is interesting to think – a talented writer like Dreymann can influence millions of people. But what if he was put into a prison when he was 40? What if he lost his gift to write in the prison, like many others did? Wiesler through his help to Dreyman did something important for so many people!!

And saving a person from the knife of Stasi wasn't something easy to do, Weisler lost his career and his prospects and could have lost his life. But I wonder - did he really care at the end? In his turn, Dreymann changed the life of Wiesler and also for the better. It saddened me very much to see Weisler delivering newspapers at the end but then I thought, no! Whatever he does now he is free from the ideological oppression, he is free to think! And I was imagining him coming back home and reading books, thousands of them!

O, I can talk about this film for ages and ages and use more and more exclamation marks as I go along and there are so many other things that deserve a special post on their own, for example Christa -Maria's storyline! One thing I must add - Ulrich Mühe' s performance as Wiesler is incredible! It is all in his eyes! They are like the eyes of a child or a puppy, so kind and so sad at the same time. I discovered one fact on the Internet that I find particular moving - Ulrich Mühe was born in the Eastern part of Germany and just before the fall of Berlin wall Ulrich Mühe was initiating the protests against Eastern German communist régime. This film must be really meaningful for him!

I made few icons of "The Lives of Others" because I had needed some for myself, but they are free to share and I can add some text of your choice:

Preview:

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