I had resisted seeing this film for quite some time because I was upset that it had beat out Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth for the best foreign film Oscar in for 2006. Granted, I hadn't actually watched Lives of Others, but I was convinced that no other foreign film could be nearly as good as Pan's Labyrinth.
I realize that makes absolutely no sense: how could I say one was better than the other when I hadn't actually seen the "other" film? Well, I'm ashamed to say, "yeah, so what?"
Now that I've finally seen this film, I will say that it's a very good film and certainly Oscar-worthy. I still don't think it was nearly as good as Pan's Labyrinth, but I'm far less upset than I was two years ago. Boy, that would be rather sad and pathetic if I was still upset about this.
From a narrative point-of-view, Lives is amazingly well-crafted and it reveals so much that is wrong with Hollywood. The film focuses on a State Police interrogator, Wiesler, who patriotically terrorizes the citizenry of East Germany (this is set in pre-unification Germany) for what he believes to be the best for his country.
While being asked to spy on East Germany's post notable playwrite, Wiesel begins to lose faith in the government. He not only sees petty bureaucrats corrupting the system but he begins to relate to the playwrite, to see in the playwrite's life an alternative to his own cold, sterile existence. Wiesel is straight out of central casting: the stereotypical, cold-hearted German for whom even sex is simply an exercise.
While there are no shortage of redemption narratives in Hollywood, most of those narratives involve major transformations in an individuals character. Think, for example, about a film like Family Man or The Fisher King. For changes to occur, there needs to be a tragic or miraculous change. By the end of the film, these troubled men find redemption and live happily ever after in their sweet domestic lives.
No such contrived ending for Wiesel. His act of bravery -- to protect the playwrite and subvert the communist apparatus -- goes barely noticed. His life becomes worse as he's demoted by his superiors. Once a powerful state police officer, he's now relegated to working in the mail room. Very little about his character has changed: he's still essentially the same person, changed only slightly. The minimal change is even more astounding when you consider the immense change occuring in society as the Berlin wall comes down during the period in which this film takes place.
Perhaps it's because as Americans we love the idea of change, of reinventing one's self. We like to think that whenever we're unhappy with who or what we are, we have the freedom and power to change that. This idea is core to our national imaginary; consequently, we hype this up in our cinema. Lives of Others than is a refreshing counterpoint to this, showing us just how little we really can and do change. With that said, however, I still think Pan's Labyrinth should have won the Oscar.
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