
To the right audience, Pereira Declares and The Lives of Others have very noticeable similar features that present themselves throughout both of the stories. Antonio Tabucchi, the author of Pereira Declares, and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the director of The Lives of Others, both tell their stories within similar settings. The similar settings lead the main characters of both stories to be similar as well. Although the similarities are easily visible there are still apparent differences in both stories as well. The first noticeable difference is the setting of both stories, but when one looks deeper into both stories the similarities are shown. Secondly, Pereira and Dreyman, the main characters of both stories, are two very different social characters, but they face the same oppression when it comes to their careers in life. The stories created by Tabucchi and Donnersmarck, even though they have different settings and characters show similarities among each other. 

First, the comparison of Portugal to East Berlin are similar but different. Tabucchi sets Pereira Declares in Lisbon, Portugal before and during WWII. Salazar, the ruler of Portugal at this time, is in a social agreement with Spain. The agreement is known as the Iberian Pact and it was created in 1939 (Rezola 3). The citizens of Portugal, under the reign of Salazar, had restricted freedoms enforced by armed police roaming the streets. Tabucchi’s description of it is shown by Pereira, “Pereira declares that city seemed entirely in the hands of the police that evening. He ran into them everywhere” (Tabucchi 9). During this time, Portugal was not a country that was calm or at rest. There was always a sense of uneasiness in the public due to rebels protesting the oppressive, totalitarian state. Tabucchi describing this scene states, “truckloads of police armed with carbines. Perhaps they were controlling strategic points of the city in fear of demonstrations or unruly crowds” (Tabucchi 9). An example of these rebellious forces is the resistance Montiero Rossi and Marta join. Although the lifestyle in Portugal was rough, the everyday life of a German citizen inside East Berlin was worse.

The Lives of Others is set in East berlin during the Cold War. East Germany is also known as the German Democratic Republic or GDR and was a socialist state. East Germany was occupied by the Soviet forces of U.S.S.R. while West Berlin was occupied by forces of the United States of America, Great Britain, and France (History.com Staff 1). The GDR enforced strict laws on their citizens such as curfews and censorship as seen in the movie. The state took away the freedom of the citizens inside East Berlin. The wall forced all citizens to remain inside West Berlin and people from East Berlin could not travel west. However, one can imagine that there was always a sense of discomfort for all the citizens in East Berlin due to the tightly regulated government policies (Year 8 History Extension Class 2012 3). Nonetheless, the state of East Berlin kept the country under control due to scare tactics, such as imprisonment, if one were to commit the slightest form of treason against the state. An example of this treason would be writing against the state, which would result in imprisonment as seen in The Lives of Others. Germany might have been worse than Portugal but the similarities are striking. 

In comparison, the two stories have a whole lot in common. Both countries were ruled by totalitarian dictators. Portugal as well as East Germany experience uneasiness in their societies due to their totalitarian rulers. The dictatorships lead to the lack of freedom of citizens inside their state. However, Salazar was more lenient on his citizens than Honecker. Based off of both stories, Salazar used public demonstration such as the armed troops in street. Whereas, Honecker used more secretive tactics such as eavesdropping and monitoring done by the Stasi. The characters Pereira and Dreyman experience firsthand the similarities of their societies even though their countries have difference amongst each other.

Second, the comparison of the main characters in both stories are very similar but different. Tabucchi’s main character, Pereira, is a journalist for a newspaper called The Lisboa. Tabucchi might have chosen Pereira as his main character because of how his job is affected by the state. Pereira is faced with many difficulties along the way. Pereira’s finds his first difficulty in writing because he cannot write anything related to politics. Secondly, Pereira hires Montiero Rossi to help him with The Lisboa. Rossi is a problem because he is an activist who is a part of the resistance against the state of Salazar. Rossi’s papers he writes are useless while he still takes Pereira’s money. Third, Pereira is also endangered by Rossi because he is constantly seeking Pereira’s help when he is in danger. Montiero is eventually beat to death in the home of Pereira, which motivates Pereira to take a stand by publishing an article condemning these actions. Pereira’s counterpart in this paper, Dreyman, has a similar story to his life (Tabucchi). 

Dreyman, the main character in The Lives of Others, has very similar life to Pereira. Like Pereira, Dreyman is writer, but instead he writes plays. Dreyman and Pereira both have to face censorship due to the restricted freedoms in their countries. Dreyman’s main difference from Pereira is he is being directly bugged for suspicion. Dreyman also faces difficulties with his friends just as Pereira did. Dreyman’s has a friend named Albert Jerska who is equivalent to Montiero Rossi. Within the movie, there is a key scene where Jerska gives Dreyman a song booklet. Jerska has been blacklisted as a director in film for his previous acts. He himself is an activist in East Berlin just as Montiero Rossi is an activist in Portugal.  Jerska dies via suicide which is similar to Rossi’s death because they both motivate the main character to make a stand. With that being said, Dreyman uses the song given to him to write a story titled the same as the song. This is equivalent to the article Pereira posts except instead of condemning the government, Dreyman dedicates the book to Weisler, the Stasi member in charge of operation Lazlo (The Lives of Others).

In conclusion, the two stories are very similar to each other. Although similar, both stories have differences that adjust to the society they live in. An example in Pereira declares is police in the street to influence correct public behavior. However, in East Berlin, Honecker ran undercover surveillance and background checks to ensure cooperation. Based off both stories, one can see how Donnersmarck and Tabucchi have great comparison amongst each other. The comparison between both stories shows not only the similarities in societies, but also in the characters. Dreyman and Pereira are surrounded by very similar characters and are placed in a very similar setting. Tabucchi’s Pereira Declares and Donnersmarck’s the Lives of Others create a very similar comparison which is shown throughout this paper.
