The Lives of Others

Though Pan’s Labyrinth would win my vote, this German film from first-time writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnesmarck was a worthy choice for best foreign film at the Oscars. It’s portrayal of East Germany’s transition from the gray, Stasi-haunted landscape before the fall of the Wall, to the graffitti-plastered freedom of re-unification is extremely persuasive. The focal character, played with just the right touch of melting steel by Ulrich Muhe, is reminiscent of Gene Hackman in The Conversation, the agent experienced in surveillance and interrogation gradually changed by the lives he spies into, in this case a playwright of ambiguous affiliation and the actress/muse he lives with. The film runs a little long as it tries to pack in resolution of all its themes, and the central conceit that if you are receptive to art and beauty then you must have a conscience, and a soul despite the stoniness of your personality, is rather baldly stated -- but carried off by the skill of the performances and detail of the filmmaking. (2006, Landmark Chicago, n.) *8-* (MC-89.)