The Great Ganesha

We are all voyeurs. Why else do we watch movies? Sure, there’s the escapism, the pleasure of being moved emotionally and the satisfaction of knowing that sometimes, the good guys do win. But at the bottom of it all, we like to see how others live their lives. We enjoy the act of watching others freely, unfettered and, for the most part, guilt-free. Particularly when the other’s lives are more interesting than ours - and, really, when are they not? The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. And it’s particularly green when the protagonist, the star of the film, our alter ego, the one who we all identify with, emerges a hero. If the movie is good, we truly feel that it is made for each of us. We feel, it is for me.

In The Lives of Others, Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich M?he) is a voyeur by profession. He works in East Berlin, for the Stasi, the secret police that existed in the former German Democratic Republic prior to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. He is paid to watch others, to ensure they are not political agitators and pose no threat to the status quo. And he is good. He can extract the truth from a potential criminal in a matter of hours. In fact, he has it down to a science. While lecturing future Stasi agents on interrogation techniques, he teaches them his formula: Keep them awake, make sure they are seated, and repeatedly ask them the same question, if necessary, for forty hours. If they are guilty, they will break. If not, they will protest. It’s that simple. He even has a tape with a real-life case-study to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique. “Isn’t that inhuman?” one student asks, innocently. Wiesler quietly puts a cross next to his name.

At one point early on in the film, Wiesler watches a play (another form of voyeurism) written by party-friendly playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch). In a few short minutes of observing his behavior backstage, Wiesler ascertains Dreyman’s potential perfidy to the Party. He expresses his doubts to Lieutenant Colonel Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) who denies it. After all, Dreyman is possibly the only non-subversive writer in the country. A few minutes later, during the intermission, Grubitz receives orders from Culture Minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thiene) to watch Dreyman - he could be a potential threat. Wiesler is smug. He is placed in charge of Operation ‘Lazlo’, as it is called. A van pulls up outside Dreyman’s apartment, bugs are planted, cameras are placed strategically and an observing-station is set up in a deserted attic in a building across the street. Dreyman’s neighbour happens to watch the men get in and get out. Says Wiesler to her, ?One word of this and Masha loses her place at the university.? He is good.

Until now, Wiesler is our protagonist. Even though we know its inherently wrong, we can’t help but admire Wiesler’s steel resolve and clean, methodical modus operandi. But now we are introduced to the life of playwright and free thinker Dreyman, who lives with his girlfriend and the country’s leading actress, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). The couple who, as Wiesler notes from his in his report, have parties, fight with each other as lovers are wont to do, then make up and “presumably have intercourse.” As we observe their daily activities, and watch Dreyman do nothing in particular that is seditious, we begin to wonder: What is this movie about?

Dreyman and Sieland share a tender moment

We watch Wiesler go home one night after his shift. It is a small, drab apartment in a greyish-brown building. He eats a dinner of tomato-puree-from-a-tube with spaghetti. This is followed by sex with a prostitute who leaves before he can even zip his pants up. As we leave him, he sighs noticeably, and stares into nothingness. As he watches Dreyman and Sieland, he starts to notice this lack of color in his life. He then finds out the operation was instituted because Minister Hempf is having an affair with Sieland and the competition must be eliminated. Some time later, he steals a book by Bertolt Brecht from Dreyman and reads it. Slowly, but surely, the doubts begin to form. The change is almost imperceptible. His face still remains expressionless. He is still just as terse and monotonic with his colleagues. But he is softer now. Something has definitely changed.

The Lives of Others is about transformation through voyeurism. As Wiesler observes Dreyman, he learns of another world. A world which, despite its inherent confusion and apparent chaos, seems to be more honest than the corrupt, power-hungry members of the Stasi. As he watches them, he gets more involved in their lives and realizes the emptiness and lack of color in his own life. He realizes that merely to get the truth across, these artists must constantly play games of subterfuge and deception. He realizes that all that he has believed in thus far is a sham. Inasmuch as Wiesler’s change is the most dramatic, even Koch undergoes a transformation from party-friendly playwright, to a subversive writer. As he watches his close friend and director kill himself after being blacklisted, he decides to publish an article in the West German magazine publication Der Spiegel. The question then becomes, what will Wiesler do? How will he use his knowledge of Dreyman and his cohorts? Will he do the right thing? And will he be able to get away with it?

Wiesler at his station

The Lives of Others is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut film, and he does nothing short of creating a masterwork. The terse plot drives this movie, keeping you on the edge of your seat. The acting by Ulrich M?he is excellent as he maintains an expressionless face betraying every emotion through subtleties in body language and consciously imperceptible actions. The movie is shot tightly, and the cinematography spares nothing to bring out the dull grays of the East German landscape. The good and bad guys are clearly demarcated however, and the film’s morality is black and white. That is, of course, except for Wiesler who gets stuck in the grays of East German reality. The last line in the film: ?Es ist f?r mich???It is for me.? is truly symbolic. Through this act of voyeurism, we have come to feel that this movie is truly for each of us. We feel, it is for me.