”Das Leben Der Anderen” is a film about the Stasi rule of Germany during the late 1980’s. The Stasi’s Motto, was ”The Shield and Sword of the Party”. In German, the language I have been speaking for 5 years now, it would be ”Der Schild und Schwert der Partei”.
The film begins with a Stasi guard taking a young man into an interrogation room at Berlin Hohenschönhausen,the main Stasi prison,which I visited when the German class went to Berlin for a historical trip. The young man is Albert Jerska,a chief playwright at the time, arrested for presumably crossing over to West Berlin,despite disputing he was with his children and then going to his friends’ house to listen to music. He is subjected to a torturous and gruelling interrogation, asked the same question again and again. As this is going on, the Operational Psychology class at the nearby Stasi institute are listening to Jerska’s confession. A weeping Jerska then gives a name,Gläske. He is therefore an informant of the Stasi, and also a prisoner of the Stasi. When one student dares to say that the treatment is ”inhumane”, Gerd Wiesler, the lecturer,and some could say, one of the protagonists of this film,puts a cross by this student’s name, blacklisting him. When the class finishes, this is where the film truly begins.
Colonel Grubitz announces to Wiesler that he is going to the theatre to see the new play by Georg Dreyman, a prominent playwright, a muse of Jerska. He urges Weisler to come along with him,and Weisler relents. They sit in the one of the top boxes, and during the performance, Weisler orders for Dreyman’s apartment to be bugged. He talks of Dreyman’s arrogance towards the State. He also watches Christa-Marie Sieland, Dreyman’s partner, with intent,even so when they are kissing. Wiesler goes to Minister Hempf, who has immediately taken to Sieland,presumably a) because she is a beautiful and b) so he can abuse his power. He agrees with Wiesler that this operation should go ahead.
At the after show party, a gaggle of Stasi members surround the well talked about couple as they dance, including the somewhat sleazy Hempf. Hempf propositions Sieland for a dance, but she replies ”Too late,too late” and walks well away from him to scope the room and mingle with guests. While this is happening, Dreyman confronts Hempf about Jerska’s treatment by the Stasi. Dreyman’s friend Paul joins in with the jibes,culminating in a sharp reprimandation from Dreyman. Hemfp too reprimands Dreyman for what he says,warning him to choose his words carefully.
The Stasi bugging operation is then set for Thursday, the day of Dreyman’s (supposedly,but this is disputed by Sieland herself, but I will talk about this later) 40th birthday. Unaware to Dreyman while he is visiting Jerska and convincing him that the Stasi will soon unblacklist him, his apartment is being bugged, and Wiesler gives his comrades 20 minutes to complete the bugging operation. He then menaces Frau Meineke,Dreyman’s neighbour, saying that if she mentions one word about this, he will make sure her daughter will lose her place at the university.
Christa prepares for the party, and also tells Dreyman that he looks more 50 years old, but he says that it is his 40th. This has been disputed by critics because of his natural date of birth. Christa then produces a tie, as Dreyman said that he didn’t want any books (well, being a writer, would you want more books?). He attempts and fails to tie this tie, and drafts in Frau Meineke to help him. He says to keep it a secret, yet another secret,but less darker than the one that Wiesler has forced her to keep, creating dramatic irony. Meanwhile,we are let into the world of a rather insecure Christa-Marie,who takes prescription drugs behind her partner’s back. This action appears frequently during the movie.
The party is in full swing, but Jerska is certainly not in the mood for a party and sits in the corner reading Brecht,a book that was forbidden in the East as it was Western literature. Dreyman asks him if he sits reading books all the time. As this is going on, Paul and Hauser are arguing,Paul accusing Hauser of being in the Stasi, culminating in Dreyman’s intervention,but Hauser leaves and tells Dreyman a few home truths and to call him or never see him again unless he wants to listen.
When everyone leaves,Dreyman and Christa-Marie relax. Dreyman humourously mistakes a salad fork for a back scratcher as he is opening his presents, and then opens Jerska’s present. He is soon brought to solemnity when he sees his present ”The Sonata of a Good Man”,which is a piece that Dreyman plays later in the film, in memory of Jerska.
The night after, Hempf makes his counter-attack on Christa-Marie as she walks home, subjecting her to a sexual act in his Stasi limousine, and then he lets her out of the car,arranging another rendez vous. This is only the start of Christa Marie’s problems, and her drug addiction is earlier discovered by Dreyman. Christa-Marie, a broken woman, begs for her partner to protect her as she sleeps,saying to him ”Just hold me”.
During this movie,we also see the corrupt nature of the men in grey, as Wiesler has his way with a prostitute in his flat. This is yet another example of the Stasi abusing their power by fraternising/sororotising with the enemy:their public. A man as lonely as Wiesler has no other option to fulfil his needs,but his rapture soon comes to an end,as he begs the prostitute to stay, but she replies that she is on a schedule;ergo, she is a victim of the German system.
Dreyman then recieves the news that Jerska, his lifelong friend, has taken his own life,unable to live with his past. The phone then rings,and it is Wiesler. Yet again, there is an irony,as Dreyman thinks it is a friend calling. When Christa- Marie comes home, Dreyman takes up the manuscript and proceeds to play it on the piano. As he is playing, a tear rolls down Wiesler’s face, Dreyman also makes a comment on how Lenin felt when he heard ”Sonata Of A Good Man” and the scene then switches to Jerska’s funeral and Dreyman reading his report on the statistics of suicide in the GDR,something with Dreyman feels has gone unignored.This is also the report that signifies the demise of many of the characters. He then arranges a meeting with Hauser and Paul. It then appears that both Hauser and Paul have befriended ”Rolf”, who is actually spying on the Dreyman/Sieland household. They arrange a meeting with the ”Der Spiegel” editor,but not before planning the notorious and sometimes thwarted cross over to West Berlin,where they will take the script to the editor. However,they make out a back up plan,which is to make out that the report is actually a play written for the GDR’s 40th anniversary.
Dreyman’s copy of Brecht’s work has also been stolen,but it is Wiesler who sits at home reading it. This invasion of a man who is eager to discover ”the lives of others” makes the film title very ironic.
Naturally, Wiesler overhears all of this,and rings the border guards, but then he says nothing and hangs up, saying ”Just this once” The editor then brings over a typewriter,hidden inside a cake box,and then they find somewhere to hide the manuscript and typewriter. Dreyman’s hand bleeds, and this is later significant towards the end of the film. The men celebrate with champagne,saying that it is better than the Russian stuff that was available in the East.The cork accidentally hits a switch and it feeds back to Wiesler,who gets up and goes to the Stasi,as he also hears Dreyman badmouthing the Stasi for being so idiotic,which is yet again dramtic irony,as they know exactly what Dreyman is doing, but the men use the play which they have written for the GDR’s 40th anniversary as a cover up .
The suicide report is then published in ”Der Spiegel”, and Grubitz is not happy and summons Wiesler to his office, suspicious that his comrade knows something. He also talks about the new categorisations that artists are put into when they are arrested by the Stasi. He proceeds to tell Wiesler that Dreyman is classified as a ”type 4” ,someone who is in reality lonely and cannot bear to be alone. Wiesler says that the men were writing a play,but Grubitz investigates this further,calling in a typewriter expert,and it is one of many catalysts.
That evening, Christa-Marie and Dreyman argue, as he knows that she is going to meet Hempf,and he begs her not to go,although she says she is meeting old classmates. She does indeed go to the bar where she will meet them,but instead she bumps into Wiesler,who talks to her. She then goes back to Dreyman, and Wiesler goes back to his flat. Hempf is waiting for Christa-Marie ,but when she doesn’t come,he starts his revenge campaign against his lover. Meanwhile, a young child gets into the lift with Wiesler,and tells him that his father told him ”the Stasi are bad men who lock people in prison” The innocent child does not reply when Wiesler asks him the name of his father, but Wiesler also asks the child the name of his ball,to which the child replies ”Balls don’t have names” and then gets out of the lift.
When Wiesler arrives back at the apartment, he spots what his comrade has written,and is annoyed at his immature nature,but says that it is good all the same.
Hempf is intent to get revenge on Christa-Marie,using her drug addiction as a ruse to inform the Stasi. Sure enough,the Stasi arrive at her flat the next morning and arrest her.She is taken to Berlin Hohenschönhausen in a fish van,disguising the true nature of what is really in there. She begs them to let her walk free, and if there is anything she can do for them. She becomes an informant for the Stasi,when the interrogator asks her if she knows about the Der Speigel article. Sieland laughs and cries at the same time.
Dreyman’s apartment is then searched by the Stasi the next morning after his partner is held in custody,and they find no evidence,and Christa Marie is held at the Stasi prison,but Grubitz rings Wiesler to help him,but also to reprimand him severely. Eventually, he is given one last chance to prove himself,and is asked to interrogate Christa-Marie. She tells him where the typewriter is,given her tablets back and comes home for a shower,claiming there was no water at wherever she was,and then the Stasi arrive at the house for another search. They find the doorstand, labelled as ”not kosher” by Grubitz, and the typewriter is not there. Dreyman looks and his partner,and scared of the truth she has been confronted with, she runs into the street,at which point she is killed by an oncoming van. The Stasi surround the couple, but now it is much different,with a weeping Dreyman holding his dying Christa-Marie, and as she dies, Wiesler admits that he moved the typewriter. The Stasi conclude that ”Operation Lazlo” is terminated, ”Lazlo” being Dreyman’s code name.
Grubitz then tells Wiesler that his career as a Stasi comrade is well and truly at an end,and that he will end up opening letters over steam ”For twenty years” says his comrade.
Surely enough,Grubitz is right,and it is only on November the 9th,that a fellow colleague shouts ”The wall is open!” Wiesler listens to the radio,and then exits the room. His colleagues are bemused why this is.
2 years later, Dreyman is sitting with his new partner,who at one point during the play,puts her hand on his knee,but Dreyman cannot take this,as she is not the same as his beloved Christa-Marie. Unable to cope with this,he walks out of the theatre and into the auditorium,where Hempf is also sitting. He also admits that he too could not cope in there after everything. Dreyman asks Hempf why it was he who was not under surveillance,but the irony becomes much clearer,and the scene cuts to Dreyman removing the wires from his apartment,and realising that Hempf was indeed right and that his every move was monitored by the Stasi.
He then goes to the archive office to view the files about him that were made during the monitoring period. He also sees that his partner Christa Marie Sieland was indeed the one who informed the Stasi about his activity,and then when he views the last file,where it says that the invesigtaion has ended,he sees a red mark,but this could be interpreted as the typewriter ink or blood. He then goes to the desk and asks who ”HGW/XX7” is. We find out that it is Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler,and Dreyman goes to follow him. However,he feels unable to confront him,and it is the final scene,where Wiesler sees Dreyman’s latest novel ”Sonata of a Good Man”, that he reads the inlay of the novel,where it says ”To HGW/XX7,with gratitude”,and therefore purchases the book. When asked by the shop assitant if he would like it gift wrapped,Wiesler, now humbled by Dreyman’s act,replies ”No.It’s for me.”,at which point Wiesler’s face is captured as an end frame.
