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The Lives of Others
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List Price: $19.94
Our Price: $14.99
Your Save: $ 4.95 ( 25% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme
Directed By: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396170858
Format: AC-3
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2007-08-21
Running Time: 138
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
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Editorial Reviews:
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This critically-acclaimed, Oscar®-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) is the erotic, emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls "a nail-biter of a thriller!" Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany’s population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman, were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg’s stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer’s apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives - as well as his - in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is "the best kind of movie: one you can’t get out of your head."
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: You must see this film!!!
Comment: I work for government and I have my fair share of seeing characters like Minister Hempt and Lt. Colonel Grubitz, whom appear to the world staunch beholders of believes and ideals but in reality are just power hungry and greedy.
The one who really believes in his country's direction and who really knows how to do his job (getting confessions and snooping) right is Captain Gerd Wiesler (code name: HGW XX/7), who was classmates with Lt. Colonel Grubitz and now his subordinate.
With an old classmate in a high place, Captain Wiesler should have no trouble moving up the career ladder into a cushy position and comfortable retirement. A chance assignment to monitor his country's best play write and his living actress girl friend changed Captain Wiesler and those he monitored lives forever.
Many people had summarized the plot so I won't repeat here. I just want to say that I was shouting with joy when I saw the first of the 3 epilogues. When Captain Wiesler was demoted by Lt. Colonel Grubitz to a basement room to steam-open letters (to check for content), Grubitz screamed at him "Do you know how long you'd be steaming letters? 20 YEARS!!!!". People in government jobs who are out of favor, who had done something wrong, or who were not aligned with rising stars know this fate intimately. That's why it's such a joy to see Wiesler out of steaming letters after less than 5 years at it.
Yes, Captain Wiesler did pay for not "doing his job right", even after the fall of East Germany. He had to make do by working as a mailman. I can't help but to feel a rush of tears to my eyes and warmth in my heart seeing the last scene when he said to the bookstore clerk that the book "Sonata for a Good Man" he was about to pay for was "for him". There's barely a hint of smile lurking in the corner of his mouth when the frame stopped. That was a priceless last scene to a well-written, well-acted, and well-edited film, one of the best I've seem in the past 5 years.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Somewhere, somehow, someone.....
Comment: In a heartless time under a heartless regime, somehow, someone found a heart, and faced with a dilemma made a decision, that would impact the Lives of Others.
It is a rare sign only seen in the best movies, and masterful how this movie builds up, and unwinds, and unwinds even more just as you think its already completely unwound.
This story is as intricate as the inner working of a watch, make the slightest wrong adjustment and....
So Ulrich Muhe gives an excellent performance as does Sebastian Koch as Dreyman. Apparently, Muhe was bugged himself when he live in East Germany, and his ex wife sued him for mentioning this in a radio interview.
Lives of Others won Best Foreign Language movie at the Oscars. After watching the movie, I watched some of the earlier scenes over. At around 8 minutes you see the actresses proclamation on stage, and the words she said set up two later scenes. See if you can figure it out.
If you're like me, and you love this movie, you will most probably also like Blackbook, also starring Sebastian Koch as the male lead. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, of Basic Instinct and Total Recall fame. One of the few movies I have bought in addition to watching.
I hope you find this review helpful, and, if you do, please click yes.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stasi Life
Comment: 'The Lives of Others' deserved its foreign-language Oscar.
The acting and plot were well integrated, and the overall
theme of the violation of privacy was gripping. The writer-
director's commentary on the DVD was engrossing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: humanity overcomes a evil system
Comment: This movie is just fantastic. And on blu ray it shines and delivers
it's timeless story with even more clarity. The communist system with it's intolerance and inhumanity even in regards to the most minute aspect of peoples lives is depicted here with a knowing production. Each actor protrays their character in a light of reality and highly perfected skill.
The story is about a man whose whole life is based around violating others rights and hunting down enemies of the state with precision and robot like slavish duty. The secret police or stasi by 1984 was not the murder machine it was in previous decades yet it still killed the souls of it people and the robot like watcher only becomes a good man after he
spies on his intended targets. This movie won awards and delivers solid
drama and an very important story for the ages. The details need to be seen by the viewer but over 200 people took the time to write about how much they loved this movie and if you love solid dramas then this is the one for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Chillingly Instructive of the society we are becoming.
Comment: The movie is excellent. It is a toned down reminder of the evil a state can perpetrate against individuals and a nation once absolute power is attained. It also illustrates that a police state can only succeed when it has accomplices in the population at large and in the media that controls access to the truth. I marveled at the efficiency of the Stasi and their system of obtaining and maintaining information on East German citizens. Imagine what could be done with today's technology to spy on and control citizens. Ultimately, the Stasi files themselves attest to the failure of communism/socialism. The files document those who were complicit in the Stasi evil while also documenting those unsung heroes that continued to yearn and work for freedom up to the point that they just disappeared in the night. Sadly, it seems that only those that have lived under the yoke of totalitarianism can truly appreciate the freedoms we American's take for granted. Today, as we see American citizens vilified in the press for taking contrary positions, or as we view the efforts of those in academia to indoctrinate rather that teach, one must ask, how much longer before the truth police will be knocking on our doors.
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