The Lives of Others

[grady]

The Lives of Others won the best foreign film oscar this past year beating out Pan's Labyrinth and rightfully so, it is a better film.

I had a chance to see the film again this weekend and realized I had not taken the time to spread the word amongst the dirts. The film had been playing along the festival circuit before opening in the states last month. It was the opening film at the Portland International Film Festival last month and the writer/director Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck was in attendance to discuss the film. He was a very pleasant man and very open to discussion of the film post screening.

I believe the film is still playing in limited markets in the states, but please try and see it.

Finally, what is ultimately sad, and frustrating is that a remake is already in the works by the Weinstein Co. with Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella. They want to help convey the message of the film to a larger/broader audience, but all they're going to end up with is another version of The Conversation.

official site (http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/)

imdb (http://imdb.com/title/tt0405094/)

remake (http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2024093,00.html)

[Eikman]

it is a great movie.

[GforGroove]

Mmm.. i liked it.. till the last half an hour?




SPOILERS BELOW (sorry about that)








The movie should end when they fired him and send him to check letters!
all that follows and the end, omg is so very chessy.

But yeah is a great movie besides that.

[adam]

HEY! WHOA! how 'bout a spoiler warning there, gofgroove?!

[Eikman]

Mmm.. i liked it.. till the last half an hour?


i think besides the historical documentation, the movie has a strong emphasis on relationship between characters. it is never denying the fact that there is a certain love element to it, unless other movies. i think that may be the reason why the movie combines the cold historical facts (of SED surveillance) and the warm aspect of human relationships quite good.

[grady]

Mmm.. i liked it.. till the last half an hour?
The movie should end when they fired him and send him to check letters!
all that follows and the end, omg is so very chessy.

But yeah is a great movie besides that.


SPOILER START


















I liked that last half-hour and thought it could've been cheesed up more but was quite the opposite infact.

[GforGroove]

i like the mix of emotional and historic facts, that is one of the things that makes it a great movie ..it just failed a lot to me at the end in comparison with everyting else. too sweet.

[grady]

Ah, pish posh GforGroove, you're too cold hearted!;)

It's not like it's Spielberg or M.Night Shamalamadingdang.

Maybe I got too swept up in the film and bought into it's ending more than I should've but it worked.

[chino]

so, it is a better film

if you declare so, I'd better believe you.

[grady]

if you declare so, I'd better believe you.

I had a stronger reaction to Lives than I did to Pan's. Additionally, choosing Lives over Pan's in the dept. office pool for the Oscar's helped me net the entire pot which came out to $115. I was the only person to choose The Lives of Others over the popular favorite and that helped push me to the top.

[kid cue]

this was really great.

SPOILERS SPOILERS









i disagree 100% that the film should've ended at the mailroom -- too much of a tragic archetype, or something. the former govt official's redemption at the end was crucial for the anti-totalitarian, pro-art (!) argument, it really held all the prior drama together and presented us with a sort of motivation for living. ending at the mailroom would've not only been too neat and easy, but would've rendered the film as more of a bleak formal exercise. IMO.

also, another REALLY subtle tragic point i dug was in the final interrogation sequence -- Wiesler "the audience" was trying hard to tell CMS that he was still on the "good" side, but once she killed herself, realized that she hadn't caught the hint after all. OR, she decided that after he'd reminded her of that moral exchange in the bar, that she couldn't go on living with such broken integrity, that she'd failed as an artist (!!). either way, awesome.

[grady]

Bringing an old thread back to life at the moment to mention the unfortunate passing of the lead of The Lives of Others, Ulrich Muhe from stomach cancer.

link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072501921.html)