Movies That Touched Me..., Baran.....A film that transports us !! Options

[simplefable]

Though i am indeed a movie buff, i was never serious about reading reviews..or following it up. I just went around randomly in the movie world, like a child lost in a library. I started seeing other foreign language films too like french, spanish, german and other asian countries. Some of them are not worth sitting through and some, i found , made me sit up and watch. I just want to write something about them here, to share my thoughts about those wonderful films. Though Madhavi did ask me to write down about movies i like, i shied away thinking that i might never fit into the world of her reviews.. I found her extremely knowledgeable and her description of a movie is always much better than any review in papers. But I got this urge to write up about some of them, and if i can make atleast one person to see a movie basing on review, i think I made it.
Today, i watched a German film.. Leben der Anderen, Das , released in USA as The lives of others. It moved me so much i thought i should write a few lines about the film.
The scenery is set in East Germany in eighties, before the fall of the wall. As every one knows, there were serious restrictions on all media in that country under the communist regime. We can never imagine that world of totally curbed fundamental rights. The people perpetually live in fear of Stasi, the state security police, who are akin to Gestapo of Nazi germany.
The story revolves around three characters..the author...Georg Dreyman, His Girl friend and superb Actress Christa..and the officer assigned to cover their lives and activities Gerd Wiesler.
Georg is under suspicion that he might be involved in aiding anti state activities and the Corrupt minister orders an enquiry into his activities. Wiesler supervises the team which fixes the mikes all over the home of Georg and sits in the control room in a twelve hour shift to monitor every word spoken between those four walls. Wiesler is supposed to be the best man in the business and hence the critical role assigned to him.
Christa is one of the best actors in the Country but her existence is threatened by the minister who is totally besotted with her.
Though Georg is initially neutral, the suicide of his close friend and a brilliant director moves him beyond any reproach as he starts to aid the anti state activists. His writings make the head lines on the other side of wall, as he narrates how many artists have committed suicide in East Germany. Though he is not credited for that works, for obvious reasons, he becomes suspect numero uno in the eyes of Stasi. The Minister too, piqued by Christa's denial, orders her arrest on flimsy reasons. She is given a choice of becoming a state evidence in revealing the culprit's name.
In this tense, surreal world of honest truth and love and loyalty and harsh realty, the most surprising element turns out to be the Prosecutor Wiesler himself.
How far can one go for a cause? One he believes in, he trusts is correct and finds it so fulfilling to stick to it, inspite of dire consequences ? this is to be seen on this beautiful film....I just could never get off my seat for the entire length of time i watched this film. The ending obviously moves us beyond words, so poignant as it can be, as films wrought a magic on us like nothing ever could. Trust you find this somewhere in a stores near by......or else, i am always willing to give the rapidshare links to this film.





Weisler...the Captain of Stasi





Georg and Christa...the people under microscope




This post has been edited by simplefable: May 10 2010, 11:04 AM