
As citizens of a free country, it may be hard to fathom how someone can live in a place where the government is so oppressive that it directly impacts their lives on a daily basis. It is hard to imagine that in some places people cannot say or do what they want because they fear the government. While it may be easy to assume that citizens of such places would be miserable and dull due to their lack of freedoms, the works of Pereira Declares and The Lives of Others argue otherwise. The main characters in both of these works undergo a major change in their lives and develop into better people as a result of the oppressive governments that dictate their countries. These characters both live in controlling regimes, but each one develops over the course of a story thanks to the government’s impact on their lives and the lives of others.

In both Pereira Declares and The Lives of Others, the main character lives in an area controlled by an oppressive government. Dr. Pereira, the main character in Pereira Declares, lives in Portugal in the 1930s. During this time period, the country was controlled by Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Under his regime Portugal was controlled by an authoritarian government. Freedom of speech and of the press was nonexistent in this era of Portugal’s history. In the beginning of the novel, Pereira mentions a merchant who was killed in the streets of Lisbon for speaking out against the government. Pereira also experiences the lack of freedom firsthand as he is a writer for a newspaper that is unable to publish political views that are not in line with the state’s beliefs. The government is a controlling factor in Pereira’s life even though he often states otherwise. Similar to Pereira, Gerd Wiesler, the main character in The Lives of Others, lives under an oppressive government. He lives in East Berlin in the 1980s when the country is under communist rule, and he, like Pereira, feels the suffocating effects of a controlling regime.

While both characters are stuck living under an oppressive regime, what really makes these works interesting is how Pereira and Wiesler develop as characters under these controlling governments. Pereira really grows as a character throughout Pereira Declares, in parts thanks to the Salazarist regime. At the beginning of the novel, he is just an elderly journalist who wants to stay out of politics and go about his life. He realizes the government is evil and unfair, and he is very uncomfortable with the large police presence in Lisbon. However, he is a lonely, sad man who feels powerless against the government and accepts it as something he must deal with. In the first couple of chapters, however, he meets the young couple of Monteiro Rossi and Marta. Throughout the course of the novel, they have a drastic impact on his life. Rossi and Marta are openly against the government and while at first this concerns Pereira, over time he warms to the idea and takes a stand of his own. Near the end of the novel, Rossi, now a dear friend of Pereira, is brutally murdered by two men claiming to be police. The Pereira at the beginning of the novel probably would have been frightened by this event, but would not have done anything about it. At this point in the novel, however, he has developed into a stronger, more independent character, and because of this he takes a stand against the government that killed his friend. He publishes an article on the murder of Rossi in the Lisbosa, which puts his life at risk. He is forced to flee the country in order to save himself, but not until after doing what he felt was right. Throughout the novel, the character of Pereira completely changes. At the beginning he is nervous, lonely, weak, and does nothing to stop the horrors occurring around him. The novel ends with Pereira being a strong, independent, vocal character that stood up to his evil government. 

Gerd Wiesler also develops nicely as a character in the film The Lives of Others. When the movie begins, Wiesler is a member of East Berlin’s secret police. He is cold and emotionless, and he has no family or significant other. It appears as if his whole life is dedicated to his career. He seems to be highly regarded in his profession as he has the support of several high-ranking officials. Near the beginning of the film, Wiesler is instructed to spy on a writer named Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland. Wiesler believes that Dreyman is secretly against the communist government, even though he seems to openly support it. In order to closely monitor Dreyman and Sieland’s lives, Wiesler and his team bug every each of their home, and Gerd’s life becomes dedicated to listening to their every move. When he first starts observing them, Wiesler furiously takes notes and seems driven to dig up dirt on Dreyman. As the film progresses, however, Wiesler appears to have a change of heart as he notices what a large effect the government has on their lives. Sieland, Dreyman’s girlfriend, finds it necessary to sleep with a government official in order to keep her standing as a prominent actress in East Berlin. When Dreyman discovers this, it nearly drives the couple apart. At this moment, something clicks inside Wiesler, and he decides that he is going to help this couple in any way he can. He begins to change the reports he is writing on Dreyman and Sieland so that nothing about them will be uncovered. When Dreyman’s apartment is searched after he writes a controversial article, Wiesler removes the evidence before anyone else can find it. This change of heart is interesting because Wiesler changes from a cold-hearted man who cared about only his career, to a man who was sacrificing his career to save two people who did not even know him. At the end of the film, Sieland kills herself because she betrays Dreyman, and government officials discover the role Wiesler played in protecting the couple. He is demoted to opening envelops for a career. It is very interesting that this man who was once so dedicated to his job would sacrifice it all to protect two people he did not even know.

What is interesting about these two works is that both characters developed into better people as a result of living under an oppressive government. In both works, the main character undergoes a change of heart and become more caring because of the people they meet and the environment in which they live. In Periera Declares, Pereira changes from a lonely, nervous, quiet man into a confident man who is not afraid of the government. He undergoes this change after meeting Rossi and Marta. He sees how passionate they are about standing up to the government, and he wishes to have their strength and courage. Once he becomes close with them, he too becomes strong and he begins to publish things in his newspaper that he never would have thought about publishing before. If he had lived in a free country, Periera probably never would have developed as a character. There would have been nothing to stand up to, and he probably would have died a lonely widower. But thanks to the oppressive regime in which he lived, he grew into a better person. Similarly, in The Lives of Others, Gerd Wiesler undergoes a similar transformation. When he comes into contact with Dreyman and Sieland, he realizes how terrible the government he works for truly is. He sees the negative impact it has on their everyday lives, and he becomes determined to help him. While at the start of the film, Wiesler’s career was the most important thing in his life, it appears that throughout the film his priorities shift, and protecting Dreyman and Sieland becomes even more important. When he witnesses the direct impacts of the government, Wiesler transforms into a more caring and selfless person; this may not have happened in a free country.

In both Pereira Declares and The Lives of Others, the main character of the work develops into a better person as a result of living under an oppressive government. They both live in controlling regimes, but thanks to the government’s impact on their lives and the lives of those around them, both Pereira and Wiesler turn into better people. Readers probably assume the worst about communist and totalitarian governments because they limit the rights of their citizens, and they use force when someone speaks out against the regime. These works, however, show that there is a silver lining. Citizens of these regimes become more caring and strong because of the hardships they and their loved ones face on a daily basis. These terrible governments somewhat strangely cause their people to become more humane through their inhumane acts.