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 enlarge | Director: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
Actors: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy Used: $5.29
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New (43) Used (37) from $5.29
Avg. Customer Rating:  231 reviews
Sales Rank: 797
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: German (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 138
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 17085
UPC: 043396170858
EAN: 0043396170858
ASIN: B000OVLBGC
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: August 21, 2007
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| Customer Reviews:
 Pacing problems derail otherwise excellent thriller. August 19, 2008
The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
Been mulling this one over for quite a while, trying to figure out how to review it. Much of my problem stems from the fact that I don't seem to have been nearly as impressed with this movie as everyone else was; the pacing is awful, the screenplay, despite moments of brilliance, is often wooden, and the camerawork is, for the most part, uninspired. I've seen a good number of movies of this sort, most recently Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, and this one just doesn't hold up in comparison. (And really, winning the Best Foreign Film Oscar over El Laberinto del Fauno? There's really no comparison.)
Ulrich Muhe, the movie's highlight, plays Gerd Wiesner, a Stasi agent in East Germany in the 1980s, who spies on other people for a living. His old school friend, Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), now a Stasi higher-up, contracts Wiesner to do surveillance on a playwright named Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his leading-lady girlfriend Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck). Wiesner is initially confused, as Dreyman seems to be the perfect Socialist; his plays are beloved of the State, none of his writing has ever been banned, etc. But Wiesner knew from the start that Grubitz had an ulterior motive for having Dreyman watched. Resentful that his services are being used in such a way, when Wiesner finds out that Dreyman is not the upstanding citizen everyone believes, he risks it all to cover for Dreyman.
The Lives of Others would probably have been a great film had von Donnersmarck (who, as everyone says, really is that good; it's impossible to tell this is the work of a first-time director, though he might have been served by hiring a better cinematographer) known whether he wanted to make a spy thriller, an existential drama, or a love story. Now, we all know it's possible to combine the three and come up with a winner (the Bourne movies, and about a quarter of Hitchcock's output, would qualify), but-- and I realize I'm very much in the minority on this-- I don't think they work here. Von Donnersmarck and editor Patricia Rommel failed to give the movie the pace required for a spy thriller. The characters are certainly deep enough for an existential drama, but in achieving that depth, the love story often gets shunted out of the way. Then suddenly someone realizes what's going on and some other portion of the plot thread gets picked up, and all the work of pushing the existential drama to the fore gets dumped. Von Donnersmarck, obviously, is not a juggler.
Now, despite all that I'm saying, I did enjoy the film somewhat. I just couldn't get past its flaws the way everyone else seemed to. **
 Just kidding! August 6, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The other reviews do not lie, this is one of the best films to be released anywhere in the world in the past 5 years. Great script, Deutschland's finest actors, inventive camera work. A bit on the Romantic side (in the German sense), so if that's not your aesthetic cup of tea, this will be a taxing viewing; otherwise its hard to imagine being disappointed!
 Easily one of the 10 best movies I've ever seen. July 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When I finished watching this movie, I felt like it was one of the best movies I had ever seen. I was not surprised to find out later that a number of reviewers said the same thing. I happen to have had the experience of having met and corresponded with a couple of East Germans after a college trip there in 1988. I later found out that they had visted the Statsi headquarters and found out that there was a big file on us which included copies of all the letters we ever wrote. Who knows? A guy like the one portrayed in the film was probably opening my letters. In any case, this is one of those movies that just seems to get everything right. Now, almost 20 years after the wall fell, I'm glad to see a movie like this to help people remember what life in the eastern block was like in some respects.
Beautifully done July 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I almost turned this off 30 minutes in - I'm so glad I didn't give up! I wish I saw this when it was in the theater; it's a wonderfully made film and the end is incredibly moving. The acting is all first-rate.
A TRULY GREAT FILM! June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If I should pick the five greatest films I have seen in my life, The Lives of Others would be one of them. It is a story of people living in the GDR before the collapse of the Wall. It is a study in how much people can and cannot endure.
The performances are breathtaking - no point in selecting a few of the actors to praise, as even the actors who have no lines excel in their craft. The music, the costumes, the settings, all are fitting and magnificent.
Praise must be given the most for the film's creator and director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. He spent many years of his life developing what can only be considered one of the great films of our time. He made this film with limited funds, and even when it was completed, all but one distribution company in Germany refused to be involved with it. Ha! Ha! Ha! on them when it finally won the Academy Award for best foreign film is all I can say.
I found it fascinating, after watching the film without the director's comments, to re-watch it with the comments. The director shares how the film came to birth, and the many elements which came to play in its making. I saw the film with new eyes as the director related details of each scene's making.
This is a very exciting film which I know I will watch again and again from here on! And I thank the director for his stamina and persistence in making his vision a reality.
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