The Transformative Power of Art

I had been wanting to see the German film The Lives of Others for several months now. Somehow my husband and I had missed it at the art film house several months ago when it was playing, so I was quite happy to see its return this week to our $1 theater in Little Rock. Its basic premise raises the question of whether or not it is possible for anyone to truly change. To test the thesis, the film's writer features an East German STASI agent in the early 1980's who is given an assignment to spy on a stage writer and his lover actress in order to test their loyalty to the government. The character's name is Gerd Wiesler, a lonely man with no other life other than his work. As the film progress, Wiesler discovers a compelling narrative in the lives of others and experiences the transformative power of art.

The film uses a quote early on that basically states Lenin could not have carried out his plans for the revolution had he listened to Beethoven too often. The power of that sentiment is almost heart stopping in my opinion. I attribute my own awakening to the power of art to a bout with the red measles when I was around eight. My sister Judy and I had spent a good two weeks a dark apartment without reading anything in order to protect our eyesight from possible damage. The morning I was able to emerge like a cocoon from this environment, I noticed the magnificent colors of spring, most notably the true yellow daffodils, the green grass, and the azure sky. I had never seen anything more beautiful. I believe music, art, films, and books have this transformative power upon us. Essentially, many of us are blind, living in a darkened world, until we begin to rise like Phoenixes from the ashes of our dull lives to see the beauty possible through art.

For the character of Wiesler, the transformation comes not only from a realization of the rich love shared between the playwright and his love as he spies upon them each day, but also from the Sonata for a Good Man played one night by the playwright. Wiesler changes from that point on to become a protector for the couple, even to the point of giving up his own career mobility, by withholding information from the state. So, yes, the answer to the initial question is an affirmative: art can change a person's life.