However as Wiesler becomes more involved in his surveillance mission he begins to realize that Dreyman may not, as he as been told, be an enemy. His perceptions begin to shift and he begins making decisions not supported by the party or its ideology.
	One of the decisions he makes is to steal Brecht's Memory of Marie from Dreyman. Brecht strongly believed in art as a social impetus, a driving force behind the emotional and social growth and development of individuals and cultures. He thought that the relationship of the actor or work of art to society was very important, as that was the connection that would produce effect—art and reality were inextricably linked in his philosophy. This exchange of information is twisted in the film when Wiesler steals the book from Dreyman, creating an unwilling, unknowing, and forced exchange of ideas. However the exchange between the observed (Dreyman) and observer (Wiesler) still created a positive (as opposed to limiting) effect, Wiesler is now less loyal to the regime and more convinced that Dreyman should not be under surveillance. Brecht, when he directed his plays, wished his actors to be detached from, not emotionally involved with, their characters. The actors should, in essence, attempt to be observers. The surveillance operatives have become, in the GDR, perfectly detached observers. They should limit, in a direct and pointed way, society's development and individuals' emotional expression.  It is almost perverse that this limiting mechanism should become one of the sources of Wiesler's change. 
	The other major influence for Wiesler is art; this is seen most prominently in Sonata for a Good Man and its effect on Wiesler's perception of reality. The sonata has metaphorical significance, typically containing a solo, it thus mimics the emotional transformation, or perhaps awakening, of Gerd Wiesler through its different emotionally representative movements, Dreyman plays the Sonata for a Good Man after Jerska's suicide and Wiesler listens in. Wiesler becomes very emotional, to the point of crying and further understands Dreyman as a fellow human being not an abstract enemy. Wiesler's greater understanding of emotion and additional knowledge of the motives of the Stasi for monitoring Dreyman allow him to realize that he doesn't agree with those motives, and in turn the surveillance of Dreyman. 
	"Good" and "Bad," "Friend" and "Enemy" have all been distorted for Wiesler by the end of the film. By observing "The Lives of Others" Wiesler has changed his entire reality around. He struggles with the decision to outwardly help Dreyman and Christa-Marie, initially more comfortable assisting them anonymously and in private. His decision to help by removing the signature typewriter from the apartment leads to his former colleagues and 'friends' (from the movie's presentation it is doubtful that he had any true friends in the Stasi organization) becoming his enemies. 
	Through the influence of Surveillance and Art the roles of everyone in Wiesler's life have been reversed. 