X
- 2007
- Cameo
- 1 h 22 m
- 2007
- Cameo
- 1 h 22 m
Summary This documentary explores the treatment of prisoners under the East German Secret Police.
Directed By: Massimo Iannetta, Nina Toussaint
- 2007
- Cameo
- 1 h 22 m
- 2007
- Cameo
- 1 h 22 m
The Decomposition of the Soul
65
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary This documentary explores the treatment of prisoners under the East German Secret Police.
Directed By: Massimo Iannetta, Nina Toussaint
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
65
70% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
30% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
65
70% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
30% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Released simultaneously in the U.S. with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Oscar-nominated fictional thriller "The Lives of Others," this chilling 82-minute documentary about three souls destroyed by the Stasi, the notorious secret police of East Germany, puts a cold, factual gloss on what might otherwise be taken for fiction.
There are touching interviews with a couple of former inmates...The most riveting part of The Decomposition of the Soul is their return to the prison, which was closed in 1989 and turned into a memorial to its victims.
Decomposition bears powerful, uncompromising witness to man's inhumanity to man, which is one of the most important things any documentary can do, though, it's also one of the most grueling.
A thorny subject is handled with care in this meticulous reconstruction of life inside the East German police state, as boiled down to the experiences of just two ex-inmates -- one man and one woman --- of a notorious Stasi prison. Overall effect is poetically thought-provoking, not depressing.
Darkly poetic study of psychological brutality.
It might be too slow and morbid for American viewers without an existing interest in the subject.
This kind of glance at history is a poor substitute for a hard, steady and expansive examination.
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Production Company
Centre de l'Audiovisuel à Bruxelles (CBA),
Image Création,
Lichtfilm
Release Date Feb 7, 2007
Duration 1 h 22 m
Genres