It seems everything around me was pretty keen on reminding people this year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall which in effect led to the almost overnight collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Coincidence or conspiracy? Either way, I relish in it.
Goethe Institute is now holding a mini film festival, showing pieces whose themes centre on Nazi and post-war Germany; the doomed resistance of the White Rose against Hitler (as in The Final Days of Sophie Scholl), a Stasi officer’s refusal to collaborate with the totalitarian regime of GDR in its twilight (as in The Lives of Others), and even the anguish of the post-reunification generation which is unscathed by wars when confronted with the inglorious past of Germany in modern history (there’s a film about a young man visiting Auschwitz, but its title just slips off my mind). Of those that I have watched, Sophie Scholl and Lives of Others are powerful and moving, and most notably beautifully and highly structured like a BMW. That’s why when the latter was shown last week, it lured me into breaking my general principle of avoiding films that have brought tears to my eyes. Who cares – you only have one 20th birthday – so, happy birthday, Germany.
For those who hasn’t heard of/hasn’t been tempted to see The Lives of Others, here’s what it’s about. Early 80s in East Germany, Stasi investigator Wiesler promises to help childhood friend Grubitz in his rise in the Party. He is to put a playwright, Dreyman, under full surveillance to collect evidence of his liaison with the West, an act which attracts severe punishment in the GDR. An idealist, Wiesler has always seen himself as a rigorous defender of Socialism and proud of it until he catches a glimpse of the regime’s vicious face through Dreyman’s life, and comes to sympathize with his prey. Meanwhile, as Wiesler’s compassion for the hunted playwright grows, his own liberty and career are increasingly at stake cos Grubitz now senses his friend gets too close to the traitor for his career advancement.
The first time I viewed it, I thought the title played on the idea of spying alone, and how everybody will come to accept and respect others if only we are given the chance to understand each other better, and not indoctrinated with blind hatred, prejudices and rumour. When Wiesler first met Dreyman, he sneaked a kiss from his girlfriend in a dark corner, an act that shouts ‘immoral bourgeois’; he was convinced this playwright should put on the watch list. Yet as the investigation continues, Wiesler finds that contrary to what he was led to believe, Dreyman’s life in fact very much resembles the ideal that he has long been aspired to – loyalty to friends, quest for liberty, a passion for arts and love. Increasingly intrigued, Wiesler tries out this new life he is introduced to like a new tie and finds it fits – he likes Brecht and finds women attractive. It’s through eavesdropping on the other’s life that points out an alternative to the bleak, dull life he is living, and sounds the alarm in Wiesler’s mind that this regime is a lying mammoth. This time around, however, I read another limb. As Dreyman composes an article exposing the scandalous cover-up of the skyrocket suicide rate in the GDR for the Spiegel, he is under constant and tremendous fear that his acts might be discovered. What drives him on? I think it’s the yearning that roars and rolls in him for the life that others lead – a life that knows hope and puts faith in it that one doesn’t think it’s necessary to seek a premature departure from present reality as a form of relief. The Lives of Others – the others are those enjoying life in the West.
Nothing is possible, not love, not even simple human nature like kindness.
(written on 26/12/09)
