Good Bye, Lenin

Rating:
Summary: Lies: damned lies, sweet lies
Review: "Goodbye Lenin" chronicles the life of an East Berlin family in the days just before and just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Socialism had become a dead force in the lives of many, except for those who used it to salve the pain of lost loves and missed opportunities. Mother Katrin Sass suffers a heart attack during a demonstration and goes into a coma for 8 months. During that time, the Wall falls and East Germany begins its transformation from dull, gray socialism to loud, rainbow-hued capitalism. Fearing another and fatal attack, children Alex (Daniel Bruhl) and Ariane (Maria Simon) with the help of a video wiz friend concoct a plan to convince their mother that her beloved socialist republic still lives.

The trailers for this movie focused on its comical aspects, but there was much more here a few laughs. "Goodbye Lenin" is about devotion to parents; about facing (or hiding from) the uprooting of one's system of meaning; of healing the wounds of separated families; of the pain of losing one's "permanent" social status. But mainly, the film ponders the cost of lies in society -- the political lies that keep populations placid and the lies that preserve a loved one's dignity. And it has many, many sweet, human and funny moments.


Rating:
Summary: Delightful, Insightful Movie!
Review: "Goodbye, Lenin" provides not only an entertaining story, but a glimpse into East Germany as it existed prior to unification. The premise is straightforward: a woman slips into a coma a few days before the Berlin Wall comes down. We find out that she is a committed socialist who'd thrown herself into party work years before, after her husband had escaped to the West. While she is unconscious, everything changes, and changes rapidly. We see through the eyes of her son, Alex, the new possibilities open to East Germans as they are free to travel and have access to consumer goods. When Alex's mother wakes up, Alex is told that she must not be exposed to any shock. Thus, he re-creates in their apartment East Germany as it existed until a few months before -- complete with created "news" programs played on a secret VCR, "Young Pioneers" serenading her on her birthday, East German interior design, and inferior products no longer available in supermarkets.

Keeping this up, however, takes a lot of work and a lot of ever-more-complicated lies. (O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!) As Alex continues this venture, he is drawn further and further into the socialist dream held by his mother. While the film has been criticized for not showing the darker side of East German life, the bad is not ignored entirely: the Stasi make a brief appearance; the reasons for Alex's father's escape to the West are revealed; the circumstances surrounding mother's job are revealed; the shoddy construction of the apartment is apparent. The point, though, is that Alex is constructing a fantasy world that is built on a lie. And indeed, East Germany itself was built on a communist fantasy that was never realized.

The film also provides a taste of the shock that all East Germans must have experienced as they moved abruptly from a socialist state to a free-market economy and, in less than one year, were unified with their former Cold War enemy. The story is well-told and well-acted. It is funny, poignant, and thought-provoking. The ending is moving. "Goodbye, Lenin" is an excellent film worth its five-star rating.

Rating:
Summary: Socially conscious black comedy
Review: 'Good Bye, Lenin!' is a fascinating German film that was for unclear reasons denied a best foreign film nomination in the recent Oscars, but I consider it one of the best films I've seen this year. 'Good Bye, Lenin!' is an entertaining and surreal black comedy, that doesn't really stand the test of logic and reality, but beneath the surface it's really a very socially conscious film, that gets across very well the atmosphere and problems of the post-communist East Germany.

The story is of Alex, whose mother, a devoted member of the Communist Party, suffers a heart attack which sends her into a coma - through which she sleeps throughout the months of revolution and the fall of the communist regime. When she awakes, the doctors warn Alex not to cause his mother any anxiety or excitement; therefore, he goes to ludicrously immense lengths to keep her convinced that communism in East Berlin is still alive. Not much of it, once again, stands the test of reason, but it's incredibly witty and entertaining, and manages, throughout, to get across some powerful statements.

'Good Bye, Lenin!' is both fun and important, a film which I recommend to everyone. Don't be afraid of European cinema; even though the film might be difficult to come by, it's very rewarding and well worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, smart, sweet: highly recommended
Review: 'Goodbye, Lenin!' is wonderful social satire and refreshingly unique, telling a story of a woman, Christiane (Katrin Saß), who loses her husband to adultery and politics, finds solace in her East German party, but collapses into a coma mid-heart attack after seeing her son attacked by East German troops amidst a demonstration gone wrong. The bulk of the film centers around not the mother, but her son Alex (played compellingly by Daniel Brühl). It is the year 1989, and throughout his mother's coma he has seen her life collapse into West Germany as the Wall falls and capitalism takes over. In an endearingly witty sequence, we also see him transform into a loving, mature man as he takes care of her and falls in love with her nurse. When his mother wakes, the doctors inform him of her weak heart: she must not be distressed or excited, lest she have another heart attack, this time fatal. He fears the changes may dangerously provoke her, so he takes her home, hides her from the world, and goes the extra mile to turn their apartment (and her old friends) back in time to East Germany before the fall of Communism. This is an interesting premise, and thanks to fine writing, acting, and direction, the gimmick does not get old, but only more interesting. And though it loses its focus toward the very end and begins to stretch further than it needs to, the film as a whole is so thoughtfully made that its end does not become less moving as a result, but remains memorable and innovative, much like its first two thirds.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome, German Cinema
Review: An intelligent and compelling comedy (or dramedy), "Good Bye Lenin" presents an interesting portrait of the multiple changes that affected Germany a few years ago. Managing to offer a strong social/political/historical perspective about the evolution of his country, director Wolfgang Becker also delivers a solid character study about a youngster and his relationship with his mother, touching issues such as the generation gap or the power of a lie. The acting is good overall (Daniel Bruhl is very convincing), the directing is clever, the plot is gripping and the soundtrack (by Yann Tiersen) is superbly crafted, which makes for an above average cinematic experience.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Hide it For My Mother's Sake:Moving Drama about Son & Mother
Review: Another good film from Germany (and from the producer of "Run Lola Run") "Good Bye Lenin!" is best enjoyed when you see it not as a comedy ... actually, it is a comedy, but its tone is more subdued than films like "Life Is Beautiful," and the best part of the film is in fact its dramatic part about the son and the mother.

It's 1989, the year which was to witness the end of the notorious walls in Berlin. Now, Alex is an ordinary boy living in East Germany with his sister and mother. Just before the big social changes happen, however, Alex's mother collapses because of heart attack and is hospitalized in coma.

Luckily, she wakes up again after eight months, but the dcotor warns that any shock could be fatal to her condition. The problem is, she was a devoted member of the former regime (which is rapidly going) and the products from the West are rushing into the place where Alex and his mom are living. In short, a red Coca Cola logo could kill her instantly.

So Alex starts to lie before his mother, pretending that the former commune is still healthily going on, even faking up the news reports on TV (with a help from his friend who wants to be a film director). But can Alex keep on this pace forever before the huge social changes that would sweep up the whole nation?

The premises are slightly contrived, I admit, but the film works well because of the credible portraits of the mother and the son. The actors are doing exceptional jobs, especially Daniel Bruhl playing Alex, whose ideas of "for the sake of mother" goes beyond the normal territory, but who remains still a likable and charming fellow all through the film. Katrin Sass who plays his mother is also great, whose fragile portraits of the mother easily convince us of the reason her son should care for her so much.

Another strength is the charming music by acclaimed musician Yann Tiersen, whose name might be remembered as the one behind the lovely score of lovely French film called "Amelie."

There are lots of funny scenes in the film, but the sad tone is always felt behind the hilarious moments. And that is right when we come to realize that after all this is a story about a mother and her son, and the understanding between them, as the surprising ending suggests to us. How much do we know about our parents, or children? The film's messsage under the comic gesture is as heavy as that question.

Rating:
Summary: Lenin, Mum's Rescuer!
Review: Awarded the Blue Angel Award for Best European Film, Berlin 2003, German Screenplay Award 2003, Premi Internazionali Flaiano for Best Foreign Language Film & Best New Talent Pescara 2003, Special Jury Prize & Youth Award Valladolid 2003, Goya 2003 for Best Foreign Film, Best non-American Film from the Danish Film Critics' Society 2004, and Cesar for Best European Film 2004, 'Good Bye, Lenin!' gives voice to the human struggle in deciding between the past and future. It depicts the coming together of a family separated by a psychological Berlin Wall; the reunification of East and West Germany staged in multiplicity by a son too concerned about the well-being of his bed-ridden mother, an activist for social progress in socialist East Germany; the complexity of life amid the weightlessness of freedom, enticement of westernization, and the burden of abrupt change.

Set against the historic collapse of the Berlin Wall, the movie pleasantly integrates comedy of situation, irony of fate, and the quarreling alliance between reality and the heart's decree, all in the Rip Van Winkle mode, hence picturing a fundamental tale of being. Famed German calibre of production, affecting cinematography, soundtrack, and leading/supporting performances all chip in to the reaching of tender moments of connection between wordless language and feeling, the visual and sensory, love and life. A beautiful movie.

Rating:
Summary: NOT YOUR MASS-PRODUCED AMERICAN PAP
Review: Even without the telltale subtitles, you can tell that "Goodbye Lenin" is not an American movie. Why is that, you ask? Because it can offer all the elements of good filmmaking: storytelling, character development...of its general complexity without sacrificing values.
Values, you say? Oh yeah--those quaint notions that inherently recognize right versus wrong and/or hold some old traditions near & dear. Again, the inclusion of old-time verities tips one off that TimeWarner is not providing the funding for "Goodbye Lenin." In fact, TimeWarner types would not fit into the ouevre of the film at all.
To cut to the chase, the story follows the antics of a young son's attempts to cover up the 1989 breakup of the GDR to his ailing mother. Residents of East Berlin, the son's mother--an ardent communist--emerges from a coma; doctors warn her children, though, that any shock or upset could bring on a fatal heart attack.
Knowing too well the cultural havoc that rampant post-1989 Westernism has created over the former GDR, the son goes to great comedic lengths to recreate pre-1989 Berlin in their tiny apartment in Alexanderplatz.
Which is yet another way "GL" cannot be mistaken for mass-produced American sap: it can manage to be a comedy, a complex political questions and a brave champion of Olde World values. And all at the same time!
Its refreshing to see the son's devotion to his mother, respect for familial ties and tradition. All Americans should be made to watch "GL:" to see the ugliness of our popular culture firsthand as it makes its brash way into the GDR. Coke banners, pornography, rap music, Britney...
Unlike those American movies that do make the attempt to formulate a message (which are becoming rarer by the day!), this film doesn't hit you over the head to get you to see the deleterious effects of western imperialism and crass consumerism. The movie's producers simply do this through their characters: a daughter who works at the new Burger King; Denis, the eager aspiring movie director who provides much of the comic relief in this film.
Although he may not be crazy about Lenin's theories and living under the communist regime, the son has enough depth of character to acknowledge and appreciate his mother's years of devotion to The Cause. But this is where the predictability ends in "GL>" Now usher in the disturbing and unexplained fact that his father was persecuted by authorities for not joining the Party and hence defected to West Berlin. Is this why his wife was such a devoted worker in The Party?
This could have been fleshed out more, just as the "Wessie-ness" (western Berlin manners and mores) of his sister's boyfriend, Rainer. The film has other shortcomings: the relationship between the son and his mother's nurse is too sappy and predictable ("American-like, you could say).
Some may view his efforts is recreating a pre-1989 life for his mother too farfetched for reality: think of the pickle scenes. The director's use of fast-forwarding for many of the comic scenes are hilarious and accentuate their absurdity.
Actual footage from the crumbling of the Berlin Wall is interspersed thru the film as well as newsrells of political leaders. I found it interesting that no images were shown of former President Reagan (or any other American officials for that matter).
The scene with the disembodied Lenin flying over Alexanderplatz, waving goodbye to the mother, is SUBLIME.
It doesn't get any better than this!

Rating:
Summary: Best Film of 2004!
Review: Finally, a film that satisfied a lifelong curiosity I've had for people my age who lived on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Since elementary school, I always wondered what it was like for kids like me who were unfortunate to be born in the Soviet Union or East Germany, two of the harshest communist states. This curiosity led to my checking out books on the topic and reading about it, and being called a "commie" by my fellow Americans, as if curiosity about someone our government tells us is "our enemy" makes me one of them!

I was thrilled when I read a movie like this had come out, showing life in the last days of East Germany and the euphoria of a new world opening up for people who pretty much lived in a prison all their lives. Of course, the initial rush of euphoria in newfound freedom left a harsh wake up call as differences in work ethics, standards of living, and cultural references became more and more apparent after reunification of the two Germanys. In personal terms, think of what it would be like if separated twins discovered each other late in life...one a Wall Street stockbroker, the other a trailer park living low wage slave. A clash in more ways than one, right?

The performances of Daniel Bruhl as the idealistic son and of Katrin Sass as the mother who always believed in Marxism, both performances really stand out and are Oscar-worthy. The lengths the son goes to, to prevent his mother from falling into another coma over the shock of the demise of East Germany provides much of the humor. My favorite scene is when the mother, tired of being cooped up in the bedroom, decides to go for a walk outside and its like walking through Wonderland for her. The look of complete bafflement on her face as she watches a statue of Lenin fly through the air, in a salutatory departure, is pure joy to watch. Just her look alone perfectly conveys the confusion of a world being turned upside down.

This film addresses the issue of "Ostalgie" that has gripped some former East Germans in the late 1990s as they have found that the materialism of the West hasn't replaced a sense of community for them. Under the iron fisted rule of Honecker, they might not have had much, but they suffered together and had a genuine sense of community...although any one of their neighbors could have turned them in to the state for any number of "violations." Watching this film, one can see the draw of culture on a person and the void left behind when the culture is stripped away or proven false. Does longing for the familiar products of one's youth actually mean a desire to return to the way things were? I don't think so...but culture is something we'll always carry with us. It's who we are.

The brilliance of this film for me, is that we get to look at East Germans as people with no control over their form of government. In America, we were taught that the Russians and Eastern Europeans were our "enemies" and a lot of people bought into it. But in reality, they are people just like us. People who believe their government over a foreign government they're not familiar with. Are we any different? I like that this film shows an idealistic young East German and his yearning for freedom, idolizing a Cosmonaut, and who loves his mother so much that he dares not tell her the truth about what happened to their country since she fell into and out of a coma. This deception strains his relations with his sister, but provides much humorous situations before reaching a satisfying conclusion. I have no complaints about this film. It's flawless and brilliant. The acting and humor are first rate and Oscar-worthy. I would rate "Goodbye Lenin!" as the best film I've seen so far in 2004.

Rating:
Summary: How about Good bye, Hitler?
Review: I watched the movie, I laughed at the jokes, I understand the plot but I simply cannot accept this movie as a defence-in-disguise of a regime that was positively criminal in nature. The mother in this movie is a diehard Communist-by-conviction. She is consistently portrayed as a good, idealistic Commie who had been let down by those evil power-hungry Commies - the subtle punchline being that Communist ideals are OK whereas the Cold War implementation in the Eastern Bloc was bad. Having lived on the wrong side of the Iron curtain for some time, I personally think that it was not just the implementation but that the Communist ideals are inherently flawed.

As the title of my review points out, most intelligent people would not accept a similar movie made on the basis of any other inhuman regime of the present or the past. Imagine a plot where a German Frau falls in a coma in March 1945, wakes up a few months later and her kids put up a show pretending the Fuhrer is still in charge. That would not be a great movie, it would be a scandal. And don't even get me started on Good bye, Jefferson Davis.

Look, the movie is entertaining, it is reasonably well done and it may even be educational for those who want to learn about the moods and public opinion in Germany around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But I cannot accept as great work of art something that makes the point of (even indirectly) defending oppression, inhumanity and intolerance. Hence 2 stars.