A Sathyam Cinemas Special
When I decided to for the Press show of the German film The Lives of Others, I was not prepared for the amazing cinematic experience that I had for the next 137 minutes.
The first film of director Florian Henckel is one of the few films I have seen with an amazing story, good performances and exploring human emotions so well. The story takes place in 1984, German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Five years before its downfall, the former East German government ensured its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance. The story is of a Party loyalist named Captain Gerd Wiesler, a spy who becomes a rebel while collecting evidence against playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend, celebrated theatre actress Christa-Maria Sieland.
Talking about how the film came about, the director said the idea occurred to him in 1997 in a creative class at film school. He always found music to be very conducive for new ideas; while listening to a sonata by Beethoven and thinking of a Lenin quote (Lenin told Gorsky he couldn’t listen to Appasionata and didn’t want to as he’d be unable to smash heads to finish the revolution) the story took root in his head. The director has also used this sequence in the film.
The film has won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2007; every frame shows that it deserved it. It also won the Satyajit Ray Award in 2006 at the London Film Festival and the Bafta Award in 2008.
The film, being presented in India by Bharatbala Productions, marks their entry into the foreign language film distribution space. The movie premieres at Sathyam Cinemas tomorrow and regular screening will start from Saturday. This film is definitely not to be missed.
Click here for the movie's stills.
