In the trials of the Nazis after World War II, many people argued that the crime was not committed because of criminal malice, but only in accordance with the orders of their superiors. I saw this example in a course on Coursera in the summer. The specific content cannot be said. The general idea after castration is that not all orders from superiors should be executed. The executor should have his own judgment and refuse to execute injustice. The command. Several film critics have mentioned that it is a pity that in the real history of East Germany, such a thing has never happened once. The Reader movie also used such a plot, who would have thought that a well-meaning ordinary illiterate train conductor turned out to be a murderer with blood on his hands, and her explanation for the crime of killing many innocent people was "I just executing orders".
But I don't think there is any need to be disappointed by the inaction of the secret police, because not everyone chooses to be one. Wiesmer is a cold, uninteresting, orderly "one-string" figure, who started out as a Stasi believer, and is as good at overseeing as a shepherd to make sure everything happens according to the established rules. He used brutal means to extract confessions, just because he believed the other party was lying and he wanted the truth. Students in the class pointed out his inhumane means of extorting confessions, and he immediately marked the students' names. But he is also just a person who hides his sensibility deeply and is not good at expressing it. He's dressed up before a prostitute arrives at his appointment, and he's overwhelmed when he comes in (in the deleted scenes). He heard Jerska read Brecht's poems aloud, so he went to Dreyman's house and stole the collection to read it himself. He was in tears when he heard Dreyman's piano music after learning of his friend's suicide. He envied the warm life of Dreyman and Christa, and after finding out about Hempf and Christa, he went against professional norms to remind Dreyman. He may even have fallen in love with Christa, persuading Christa to return home on a night when her relationship with Dreyman was on the verge of collapse.
In reality, he may not be a person who will pursue the career of the secret police, because he is a serious person. We all know what history is like, so what the writers and directors want to say is that history doesn't have to be ugly, it can be like this.
Wiesmer didn't need to be a good person on purpose, he just was a good person by the way, because he was a good person. Maybe most people in this world are sensory animals, but there are a few people who need a spiritual world besides the sensory world, which can provide them with infinite power. This spiritual world is generally illusory, but if one day someone sees that someone has actually visualized their ideal spiritual world, won't they cherish it? If this figurative spiritual world is in danger of collapsing, wouldn't TA do his best to protect this figurative illusion?
It's a pity that Wiesmer's dream was shattered because of the fragility of Christa's conscience at the last moment. He knew Christa's vulnerability because she would regain her confidence with the encouragement of a stranger. He also took advantage of her vulnerability and asked her to reveal the location of the typewriter during the interrogation, so that he could take the typewriter to protect them. I just didn't expect Christa to be so fragile that she couldn't face her own vulnerability. But in fact, people are fragile, because people are not only half human, but also half animal; and it is this combination that makes people cute. If all people are only human and divine, they must only make up a very boring world. Christa, who chose to betray Dreyman for his beloved acting career, is a lovely person; Christa, who was unable to face his betrayal in the end, is still a lovely good person. But why does Christa, such a lovely good person and an excellent artist, have to face the dilemma of choosing to be loyal to his lover or to choose the stage he loves?
The truth of power is to build a system full of holes, and there will always be people who love power who will slip through the holes because all they want is to get to the top and have more power. They have a lot of animality and lack a bit of humanity, they are strong, they are not cute because they are not vulnerable. They may not be a good person at all. They use other people's vulnerability to attack others, so as to make themselves stronger. They fear the hopes of others, so try to destroy them as much as possible. They fear most people like Wiesmer, Dreyman, Jerska, Hauser because they are cute and strong, because they have a spiritual power that power cannot touch, and power can never destroy this power. So they impose their fears on others, rob others of their privacy, their sense of security, and their self-confidence, and make others think that only power is the eternal truth in this world.
In an interview with the actor, the actor Ulrich Mühe, who was born and raised in Wiesmer in East Germany, referred to himself and his contemporaries as "victims of the regime". He said that after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he also went through the archives and found that some colleagues he regarded as friends had also spied on him and informed Stasi. Many people may be the same as Dreyman at the beginning of the movie, who choose not to flatter or inform, but also do not choose to challenge. They haven't made the easy choices, but they haven't made the right choices either. Until one day, the best friend couldn't bear the pressure and committed suicide. Lovers have to sell their dignity in order to keep the stage they deserve. The world around me crumbled because there was no hope. Because he knew the vulnerability of others, but he did not stand up to protect them. Because freedom is so precious, someone once defended it with their lives. So he stood up, like Wiesmer. They were both brave people, strong people, two good people.
Precisely because we know that most people are fragile and can't stand the test, so if someone is a rare person with a strong soul, all he has to do is protect other vulnerable people from needing Faced with trials they cannot withstand. If you are a strong person, a human of honor, use your strength to protect your spiritual world. Don't ask cute vulnerable people to be as strong as you, but use your strength to protect their vulnerability.
And don't worry that more good people are still battling their confusion and fear. Sooner or later they will be good people because they are good people by nature. Hempf told Deryman that people change in your work, but people don't change. Dreyman and Wiesmer became "good guys" in the "middle" and "bad guys" positions, respectively. They end up being good people because good people don't turn bad. It's never too late to be a good person.
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