Last year a friend recommended the movie you discuss, The Lives of Others, and I saw it recently. I found it moving, and a part of me saw a relationship to our current immigration debate.
I have often heard Mexican flaks smear (and try, successfully I fear, to shame) Americans by comparing a border wall to the Berlin Wall, the supposed scourge of humanity that fell 18 years ago this past Friday. And too often, Americans (especially conservatives) reply with a feeble “That is not true. The Berlin Wall kept people in. Our wall will keep people out.” This is true as far as it goes, but misses the real point, and thus conservatives do not make the argument they should make.
The Berlin Wall was indeed a scourge to the East Germans, trapping 17 million people in a socialist dictatorship. The Wall was, however, an absolute boon to West Germans, keeping them separated from the squalor and misery of the East and allowing West Germany to rise from the Stunde Null of 1945 and develop into an economic and cultural powerhouse.
Also, the Wall was a superb educational tool—the best of the century for educating the world to the failure of socialism. On one side capitalism was able to flourish, and the result was a rich, prosperous country, full of culturally proud people that had earned their place among the community of civilized nations. On the other was a nation committed to socialism and all of its promises, and the result was a stunted backwater—the logical consequence of collectivism. But best of all, unlike in Russia, Latin America, China, or Africa, the differences could not be blamed on racism, cultural differences, Western imperialism, lack of understanding, etc. East Germany had all the ingredients for success as were present in the West, and the country atrophied solely because of poor policy—i.e., socialism.
Strict borders should be presented not only as a matter of national security—though that is certainly a big component—but also as a necessary means of insulating America from the poverty, corruption and resentments of peoples that are not like us, do not like us, and will not ever become like us. And the argument of economic dependence is easily refuted. Countries can trade with their neighbors without accepting immigrants; witness Japan, a prosperous nation that trades globally but acts locally, through an unabashedly race-conscious immigration policy. If conservatives would make this argument, they might have a chance to turn the tide and gain credibility.
None of this refutes any of what you witnessed in the movie, which should be enjoyed as both a moving story and a highly artistic film. (I thought the cinematography was magnificent.) It is just that I cannot see anything related to the East West divide without grafting it onto my thinking about immigration.
By the way, if you would like to see another movie dealing with Communism, I recommend Burnt By The Sun, a 1994 film by Russian director Nikita Mikhalov.