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Holistic Guidance - 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. System Requirements:Run Time: 138 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: R UPC: 043396170858 Manufacturer No: 17085
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Hard Work
Comment: Selective sub-titles drove me mad. I wanted to enjoy this after all the hype but afraid it just didn't do it for me. I have no criticism of the acting but there was a huge communication gap and it merely drove me to sleep.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Evils of Communism
Comment: This superbly directed film by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck which clearly demonstrates the abominable lack of freedom which was the stark reality in 1984 behind the 'former' Moscow controlled, communist, Iron Curtain satellite of East Germany.
The very accomplished, but regretfully now deceased actor Ulrich Mühe , himself born in the former East Germany, rivetingly plays the role of Gerd Wiesler, a East German secret police (Stasi) captain, eavesdropping on a celebrated playwright Georg Dreyman played by the wonderful actor Sebastian Koch, of 'Black Book' fame, and his live in girlfriend, portraying an accomplished GDR actress Christa-Maria Sieland, expertly delivered by Martina Gedeck.
This movie should not be missed!
The East Germany in this movie was where the current dictator of Russian was previously stationed as a KGB colonel, and now this neo-Soviet butcher is attempting to forcible reestablish his precious Soviet totalitarian empire by initially invading the small independent Caucasus country of Georgia. Which nation is next on the Kremlin's invasion list?
If Western leadership does not quickly awaken from its self-inflicted slumber and confront Moscow & their cohorts, many of us in the Free World shall be languishing in the very nightmare depicted in 'The Lives of Others', except this time the 'others' shall be 'us'!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Ulrich Muhe
Comment: This is the story of an East German Stasi officer sent to tape record the activities of a man so that he can be eliminated from the picture so that a higher party official can get his hands on the man's girlfriend.
However, thanks to the presence of the East German cinema's late Ulrich Muhe (who was himself followed by the Stasi) this movie is so much, much more. As the film progresses we watch as the dutiful Muhe receives his charge, begins to carry it out and becomes both disenchanted and ultimately noncooperative in the process.
To my eye, it would seem that in reality anyone with the gravitas that Muhe had wouldn't have been able to function as a Stasi officer in the first place. But movies are wonderful places where you suspend your disbeliefs along with your diet, eat the buttered popcorn and settle in to the movies alternate reality.
Like Run, Lola, Run and Goodbye Lenin, this is another extraordinary product of a German cinema that's finally ready to move on and make movies about events that occured after 1945 as well as those that occured before.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Totally excellent
Comment: This movie, with excellent and easy English subtitles, is elaborate and subtle but totally clear. It is about a Totalitarian government (The GDR or "East Germany" before Reagan forced the USSR to tear down the Berlin Wall) which wants to KNOW EVERYTHING about you, ostensibly to protect the Socialist State against its enemies. The "Stasi" or state police, like all puffed up self serving bureaucracies, love to develop and maintain "files" on everyone and they see in this activity great potential for career advancement. The Stasi are the vilest of bureaucrats using any method to turn people against each other and to develop "informants" who in turn betray their friends, leading to personal and professional ruination or imprisonment. The heroes battle this system and the plot turns on the inner transformation of one of the Stasi officials. Great Movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful film!!
Comment: I'm having a hard time summing up all the good feelings and reasons why I love "The Lives of Others". I can only say this and thats that it is a magnificent film that tells an excellent story about what life was like for Germany back in 1984 when the Stasi secret police would listen to it's citizens very conversations. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is truly a gifted German director as well as story teller, not to mention the three trio of actors Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, and Ulrich Muhe all giving such beyond stellar performances as the main characters. I often found my heart strings being tugged at when watching their characters struggle with a certain conflict. It's a film that shows how unfair people with power can be to people who don't have it and what the end result can be if taken far enough. A beautiful film that no one should miss.
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