Friday, September 26, 2008

The lives of others

After mentioning this movie in my last post, i had to watch it. With such hectic schedules going on, still this movie has such a powerful impression in my mind that i had to watch it. Absolutely brilliant, cult, classic. There is so much to praise for, i can sing about it for one whole day.

If you abstract the movie with just its structure, this movie is 90% similar to the movie Fahrenheit 451. I hope people understand the common feature in both movies as this is the way to write a movie. I will also try to write something on this structure. I say 90% because we also have an ending here which is simply beautiful.

This movie makes a strong contender for my top #5 movie endings. Here is my "as of now" list

1. Cast away. No one can beat this ending for me. Standing at the cross roads, Tom Hanks wonders which way he should take.
2. Before sunset. Linklater does it again, he makes a sequel and leaves it as before.
3. Sixth sense. It had to be here.
4. Lost in translation. Another open ending, but totally deserved.
5. Lives of others. This ending is closed, but the last line - "Its for me" completes the movie. There is one thing in viewer's heart that is not fulfilled, the last scene fills that void and aha!


I am tempted to write Kill Bill vol 2 but its climax is the best climax ever, but its ending is not among the best.

Here is a song from that movie. All that internet tells me about this song is :
It is a poem Stell dich mitten in den Regen (Stand Right Out in the Rain) by Wolfgang Borchert, best known for the post-war drama Draußen vor der Tür (The Man Outside). Borchert, who died in 1947 aged 26 from hepatitis contracted as a dissident conscript on the Russian front, stands as an example of moral integrity. His poem consists of three stanzas, which urge the reader to confront rain, wind and fire, each concluding with the exhortation ‘und versuche gut zu sein’ (‘and try to be good’).

Taken from : http://www.ajr.org.uk/journal/issue.Sep07/article.917



Stell Dich Mitten In Den Regen - Bayon


Finally, here is a google translation of that song:






Stell idch mitten in den Regen,
glaub an seinen Tropfensegen
spinn dich in das Rauschen ein
und versuche gut zu sein!

Stell dich mitten in den Wind,
glaub an ihn und sei ein Kind -
lass den sturm in dich hinein
und verscuhe gut zu sein!

Stell dich mitten in das Feuer,
liebe dieses Ungeheuer
in des Herzens rotem Wein -
und versuche gut zu sein!


Stand right out in the rain
credibly to drop his blessing
spinning you into the noise
and try to be good!

Control yourself in the middle of the wind,
credible to him and had a child --
let the storm into yourself
and try to be good!

Control yourself in the midst of the fire,
love this monster
in the heart of red wine --
and try to be good!

4 comments:

aman said...
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aman said...

watched 'before the rains' today at a movie festival..it also had a very good ending..the movie was good but the ending elevated it to a higher level .. it was the kind of ending 'water' had ..kind of an ending that leads to a new start..

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