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Author Topic: The Lives of Others  (Read 6037 times)

Brian Z

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2007, 10:12:19 PM »
His change also deals with the further realization of how corrupt a system he dedicates so much of himself to has become.

JoshuaOst

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2007, 10:44:49 PM »
Wiesler definitely changes during the film.  Look at the scene where the kid with the ball tells him that his father says that the Stasi is a group of bad men.  He first asks what his father's name is but then restrains himself.  If he still believed in the Socialist Government he would've reported the boy's father.  So to say that he didn't change during this movie is ridiculous.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

waSP

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2007, 11:01:05 PM »
He didn't change during this movie.

That isn't to say nothing around him did.  All of the external things did change, but Wiesler, his nature, remained as it was.  He was loyal to his nation and to the execution of the ideals it represented.

I just contradicted myself, didn't I?  Oh, well, I must have been wrong.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2007, 01:18:31 AM by waSP »

kaab87

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2007, 01:12:48 AM »
I didn't have a problem with the removal of the typwriter.
I did wonder afterwards about the interogation scene and what really happened there.
Maybe thats the whole point of it?
I veiw the death of christa-maria the same way I veiw the Costigan death in the departed.
Inevitable. You have to kill the rat. Just like you have to kill the serial killer at the end of Le Samurai. You also have to kill the traitor.
I don't know, the movie wouldn't be able to have the perfect ending in the book store without that death anyway.
I think it's also a comentary on the ever-popular "All men's toils in vain" idea in that Wiesler is trying to save Dreyman and Sieland's relationship.
He already intervines before in the bar scene.

And so on. I'll just say I thought it was wonderful. Great acting and pace. It's tied with Zodiac as my favorite cinema experience in 2007. Loved it even more than Pan's Labyrith which surprised me.

Should I see 300 if I hate CGI battle scenes and like this kind of movie?

Adam

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2007, 09:02:01 AM »
Probably not. (But you never know... Sam loved Lives and typically hates CGI battle scenes.)
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rie

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #15 on: April 05, 2007, 12:50:11 PM »
i'm more than a tad late to this discussion, but i only just got to see "lives" last night...

just one small question: did anyone else hate the very last line?  i was all into the sweetness of the gesture of the book, and then WHUMP.  we get hit over the head with that "no, it's for me" business. 

grr.
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all.

Richard Wright

Adam

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #16 on: April 05, 2007, 12:51:43 PM »
I kind of liked the line... maybe not the freeze frame though.
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rie

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #17 on: April 05, 2007, 01:07:34 PM »
the freeze frame wasn't my fav moment either, but that line really hit me as too much -- and i wasn't alone.  there were a few "good griefs" of disgust around me in the theater.

what worked about it for you, adam?
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all.

Richard Wright

JoshuaOst

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Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2007, 02:29:10 PM »
I liked the last line.  If you think about it, Wiesler was a very selfless person throughout the film.  Either he did something for the good of the state or to protect Dreyman from the Stasi, but he never did anything for himself.  I thought that the ending was a very fitting way to end the film.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

rie

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    • looseframing
Re: The Lives of Others
« Reply #19 on: April 05, 2007, 02:48:57 PM »
that's a very cool way to think about that line.  thanks for sharing that -- it helps me put it into a better perspective.  now i want to go see that last bit again, with your interpretation in mind, to see if i feel any differently about it...
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all.

Richard Wright

 

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