The winner this year for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is now available on DVD. Some may argue whether The Lives of Others was truly the best of the five nominees, but it is certainly worth seeing. Definitely for the viewer is insight on what life was really like in East Germany in the years before the wall fell. Amazingly, this is the first feature by writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

The narrative is about an officer in the East German secret police, the Stasi, who is invited to a play by his superior officer. Weisel does not have much interest in art, but knows that going will be something of a career move. His superior officer and former friend is in charge of cultural affairs. The author of the play is suppose to be very supportive of the Communist government, unlike many of his peers, but Weisel suggests that the playwright be investigated for possible subversive activities.

In his involvement with “the lives of others”, in this case the writer Georg and his lover Christa, that Weisel finds himself going through changes, and among other things, developing an interest literature. It is also through his surveillance of Georg and Christa that Weisel ends enabling a chain of events that includes the publication in West Germany of a highly political article by Georg.

What the film is about is the conflict between the strictness of principles versus human flexiblity and weakness. Also, the film’s characters, in dialogue and action, argue about how art affects people and their view of the world. One of the quotes refered to is by Lenin, stating essentially that listening to Beethoven distracts him from the severity of carrying his revolution. From a historical perspective, The Lives of Others shows the contrast between the humanistic East Germany that the government officials claim, and the treatment of citizens, especially those who in ways big and small challenge the system.

The DVD includes commentary by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck as well as an interview, both in English, which he speaks quite well. There are also deleted scenes. For those who may have put off seeing The Lives of Others because the subject sounded depressing, or could not see it because it did not have a convenient theatrical run, this is a very worthy film, both enlightening and entertaining.