The Lives of Others
There seemed to be a large serving of sentimentality throughout this movie, but it avoided cliché and kept its honesty, pretty much, all the way through. Maybe some small plot-serving quibbles, but nothing that really detracts from a very powerful story. The movie’s a little long, but not uncomfortably so. I had to ask my German-speaking friend, K., to clarify one thing for me. At one point, the head Stasi officer tells a joke about the GDR’s leader, Erich Honecker, and it just wasn’t funny. That’s because it’s impossible to translate, one of those idiomatic usages that only makes sense in its native language. “Why is Honecker like a telephone? It doesn’t matter, just hang up and try again.” Yeah, look, it’s been a long time now since the Wall fell, and a lot of us have left all that behind. It’s not really gone, though, just like the war that divided Germany into East and West. The shell holes and damaged buildings and unexploded shells that still turn up in farmers’ fields and the survivors . . . these all remind us of that, but the damage and the damage they represent are no less real than that inflicted on the oppressed people of the Soviet Union and its client states, and it’s good to be reminded of it now and then, especially when the free nations of the world seem so intent on employing similar methodologies. The movie is well-acted, well-designed, well-directed and deeply moving. Having now seen two movies in a row where I walked out nearly in tears, I think it’s time to go see Hot Fuzz.