Goodbye Lenin!
p. We’ve been meaning to go and see the film ‘[“Goodbye Lenin!(IO Film review)”:http://www.iofilm.co.uk/fm/g/goodbyelenin2003.shtml]’ for weeks, but we only got around to actually going yesterday evening. We both love watching films, but the cinema is a slightly inconvenient distance away so apathy often overwhelms any film-watching urges. Certain films really make hauling your body out of the door worth it though, and ‘Goodbye Lenin!’ is certainly in that category.
p. The film, directed by Wolfgang Becker, tells the story of a family living in the Communist GDR, from the point of view of the son—Alexander. When the father leaves the family and escapes to the West, the mother has a nervous breakdown, and spends months in a hospital, not speaking to anyone. When she recovers, she becomes a fanatical poster-girl for the Communist regime, writing supportive but critical letters to the Party leaders about such burning issues as the skimpy sizing of the regulation knickers. So when she sees Alexander being beaten up by the police while participating in a pro-democracy demonstration, the cognitive dissonance it produces is enough to give her a heart attack. She spends the next eight months in a coma, while Alexander does everything he can to bring her back.
p. By the time she comes out of the coma, everything she knows has changed; the Berlin wall has fallen, the Communist regime has gone, and Burger King⢠and Coke⢠have moved in. The doctor warns Alexander that she must not be excited or upset, or she might have another heart attack—this time, a fatal one. So Alexander weaves a complicated illusion that nothing has changed. Or rather, he creates a fictional GDR, where everything is as he wishes it might have been—not how it actually was.
p. The film is funny, touching and gently satirical, and the characters are very engaging. It’s certainly worth dragging yourself out for if it’s showing in your area, or you could just wait until the DVD comes out.
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I'm living in East Germany right now, a little backwater town called Chemnitz, known as Karl-Marx-Stadt during the DDR, which has as it's centerpiece a very large and disturbing sculpture of the head of Karl Marx, backed by a mural encouraging "Workers of the world unite", but tellingly neglecting the "you have nothing to lose but your chains" part... well it was behind the Iron Curtain. I live with three East Germans, one of whom cried volumes during the screening of "Goodbye Lenin" we saw... she told me it spoke out of her heart. The emergence of "Ostalgie" here is interesting and softly touching. It's like this generation (people around the age of 25) are reclaiming a cultural identity that was enthusiastically thrown off after '89... and salvaging some sort of orientation in a 'western' world where their childhood, and the experience of their elders, affords them very few points of reference.----- Ger: That's very interesting. I assume that 'Ostalgie' is nostalgia for the DDR? My German isn't up to much (or anything actually) but I think I can work that one out
by bsag @ 26/08/2003 6:08 pm • Permalink •
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Saw the film tonight in Pusan,S.Korea at the Pusan International Film Festival. To my suprise, there were no English subtitles. We viewed the movie outdoors and were part of a very involved and laughter filled audience. We unfortunately missed a good part of the humor. Amazingly enough the movie still came through as great, even though we missed alot of the translation. Hope to see it again sometime with English subtitles.
by MCanner @ 03/10/2003 2:11 pm • Permalink •
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j'ai adorais le film!!!ou plutot le gar�on qui y joue !il me fait trop craquer c claire!
by anna @ 04/10/2003 12:10 pm • Permalink •
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Does anybody know when Goodbye Lenin will make it to the US? ...Or when the DVD will be released in the US?
by Dave @ 06/10/2003 3:10 am • Permalink •
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I discovered Good-bye Lenin! yesterday evening in a cinema near my home at Paris Bastille. I was in tears throughout the film, it is an extremely moving and ironic account of what Berliners experienced in 1989 and 1990 in the "aftermath" of the reunification. At that time, I was roughly the same age as the main character, Alex, 17, which is also probably why I was so moved. Nostalgia. The film stirred up memories of my youth (also wanted to go to space!), the TV reports I remembered of people being gunned down trying to pass the Wall, and the enthusiasm & disbelief we felt when the reunification occured -an exceptional historical moment noone wanted to believe in beforehand. I did not see Berlin, which I regret deeply. I did however witness the breakdown of the USSR and the arrival of Coca Cola and McDonald's in Russia throughout the 90s. Quite a farce. I can only encourage the Russians to develop their own brilliant satire on the arrival of the Western "refugees" in their homeland. Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and the Coke Brigade? Hmm... Looking forward to it! Many thanks to Wolfgang Becker.
Geraldine Dunbar, 30. Paris, 6th October 2003
by geraldine dunbar @ 06/10/2003 1:10 pm • Permalink •
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I just watched the film in South Africa while I am on holiday. It truely brought back the memories of my 26 years living in Ost berlin, both good and bad. I recommend the film to everyone.
The youngest son of the family I was staying with spotted a slightly interesting bit in the film. When Alex and his work friend are at the latters house looking at a wedding video the T shirt of one of the boys has green japanese writing in a vertical style which, I was reliably informed, came from the late 90's film, The Matrix. Whoops!
by Kolam, Cape Town @ 10/10/2003 2:10 pm • Permalink •
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I saw this a couple of weeks ago with an amazing East German friend who lived through the collapse of the wall. She cried a little and laughed plenty through the film (as did I!). I adored every moment of it, even though Iâm just a simple English guy, âa million milesâ away from the shadow of the past.
I would like to find the name of the song that the Young Pioneers sang to the mother when she was in bed. If anyone can help me, I would be very grateful.
Thank you all for the nice comments, itâs nice to see that great films are still appreciated.
by blaze @ 15/10/2003 11:11 pm • Permalink •
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Oh, managed to work it out, the song is Unsere Heimat.
Be happy always.
by blaze @ 16/10/2003 12:10 pm • Permalink •
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I've seen it yesterday night in Montreal and I believe it's a shame that they're only showing it two times here. Anyway, I simply loved it and as some of you said, even thought I'm a French-Quebecer who only knows about the Berlin Wall and everything, I was deeply moved. I found the actors wonderful. The love between the son and the mother was incredible.
by Annie @ 17/10/2003 6:10 pm • Permalink •
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I saw the film tonight in the MAX!2003, the German Films Festival in Hong Kong. I really enjoy the film.
And yes, when I saw that green vertical column of Japanese words, I immediately thought of Matrix the film. Aber ich glaube, dass das kein Problem ist. The most important thing is that the film has a good plot. Die Musik passt auch!
by Tony Yip @ 18/10/2003 4:10 pm • Permalink •
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I am so glad to read some of these comments as it makes me feel less of a fool for having blubbed throughout this wonderful film (and all the way home too - and when I woke up the next day etc etc..). Such beautiful acting and cinematography. The last shot of the mother in the hospital, bathed in red light; the overwhelmingly touching love of the son for his mother; and the beauty of the smile of that Russian nurse...these, any many other things I will remember for a very long time.
by seb. london @ 19/10/2003 4:11 pm • Permalink •
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Two of us went to, and really enjoyed , this film. But at the end we had different opinions as to whether : a] as Alex narrated it, his mother died without ever knowing the truth, or b} the mother knew, well before she died (and certainly after a bedside chat in hospital with Lara just before father's visit) about the "changed real world", and that her long & loving smile at/to her son, while they watched the "final broadcast" was in admiration of the lengths that he had gone to "protect" her for all that time. It was as if she didn't want to spoil it for him by admitting that she "knew".
by Chris @ 28/10/2003 1:10 pm • Permalink •
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I saw the film today in Athenes,Greece.Undoubtfully great&smart;.I adored the fact that it wasnât any propaganda used to uplift any of the two regimes.It was so deep full of symbolism and motivations for thinking.The direction was absolutely great,with the right&succesful;use of light&colours;.The end revealed the truth&a bitter comment on how the reality should have gone.The mother -symbol for Communism- was terrific giving a lot of things to think about,such as the mistakes of the USSR.The history material is 100%real&objectively;put. the great thing about it is how it shows how the nature goes,capitalism-communism&how;the mankind,if the choices&acts;were different would actualy choose&want;to live in such a regime. Absolutely perfect film,I give 4,5 stars definately,maybe the best I saw this year-not only in cinema
by Katerina @ 30/10/2003 1:10 am • Permalink •
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I visited Berlin for the first time last year and found so thrilling the way that a strong sense of alternative is still present there⦠certainly in compairison to commercially saturated London. the alternative is that widespread attitude that capitalism is not necessarily the answer. what was east berlin before the fall of the wall? I couldnt really imagine as there has never been images of it made available to me, a part from the obvious stereotypes of poverty and lack of freedom that western values - so they say - have provided to lift. To me GoodBye Lenin! is a fascinating window from which to glimpse at a time and a culture I have only been exposed to as anti-human ⦠in Italy, my home land, there was a fascist saying: âcommunists eat children!â⦠I am looking forwards to more films coming from former communist countries re-claiming the wealth of their cultural identity. Just a last comment in this regards, what about the way that Boris Mikailovâs photographs are strumentalised by capitalist bastions such as the Tate?
by maria @ 30/10/2003 4:10 pm • Permalink •
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We saw the film last saturday in Madrid, we chose the subtitled version instead of the spanish spoken, so we had to wait for hours till the last shift... I�ve had a kind of philia with the former GDR since I visited Berlin some years ago, imagine that suddenly the world you know fades away with no time to decide in which way you want to go. For them the alternative was right there, on the other side, making all the efforts and sacrifices of years a vain job. I�m very interested in those who believed or simply lived their little lifes in a world that one morning had desappeared. For instance, what happened with all the students who had to stop their careers �cause they were no longer teached?. I mean the difference and what makes this so emotional is that they didn�t let the socialism had a decent burial like in many other eastern countries, and for years we�ve only been told about the stassi and this kind of things. But they were europeans just like us, and they lauughed, they play with their "robotron" home-computers, they had their own kind of fashion and so on. Don�t you feel comfortable when you know that the "enemy" was so close to you?, I do prefer them to Osama.
by Fabi�n @ 10/11/2003 6:11 pm • Permalink •
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Saw the film in Bonn, the irony is striking... saw it with a young Ukrainian friend who admitted she hadn't had any feelings about the dissolution of the USSR at all.
When will the DVD finally be released in England? It's been out 2 months in Germany already.
Ich studiere Germanistik in Cambridge und finde die Themen Ostdeutschland und besonders Ostalgie spannend. Wenn Sie Lust haben, oder mir ein bisschen darueber erzaehlen koennen, dann schicken Sie bitte eine Email an:
im268@cam.ac.uk
Danke! Isabelle PS: the Sandmaennchen rocks!
by Isabelle @ 15/11/2003 5:11 pm • Permalink •
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If you have a subtitle for Goodbye Lenin Movie - please sen id to me - zsrr@poczta.onet.pl
by Peter @ 16/11/2003 6:11 pm • Permalink •
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I had stayed in Berlin for more than a month. I came back and was waiting to watch this. All the DVDs were in Berlin were in German of course, Couldn't find one with English subs. Now I got to watch it in Singapore last evening at the German Film Fest, I got the last ticket! Lucky me. It was a really good film. Haven't had enjoyed such a good one for ages. Too bad, they only have two screenings, and totally sold out. I can't even bring more friends to watch it again and I can't find the DVD with English subs in Singapore too. :-(
by Chin Mei @ 28/11/2003 7:11 pm • Permalink •
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On the Matrix T-Shirt that Dennis is wearing in one scene: It seems like this was done on purpose. There is apparently a cut scene where Dennis speaks about ideas he has what films to create. One of them very much resembles The Truman Show and the other one The Matrix.
by Michael @ 07/12/2003 2:12 am • Permalink •
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No idea where I am - some sort of blog is it? I stumbled across this page of comments after going to see Goodbye Lenin last night. Best film I've seen in ages. We'd not had time in summer and the local independent cinema is showing it for 3 days [Newcastle upon Tyne, UK] We nearly didn't go as my son and I were both tired - you get lazy over Christmas! But my husband had paid for the tickets by credit card by phone so we dragged ourselves out, not sure if we'd fall asleep during the movie!! Couldn't be more awake!
Fascinating to read comments from people here from so many different countries and cultures. I remember how fast things changed in Eastern Europe, my father in law was in his 70's and kept saying he never thought he's see these changes in his lifetime.
I will keep thinking about this for a long time to come. At the moment we are more aware of our cultural differences and similarities with France banning the wearing of headscarves for religious reasons etc. In England we don't have as many traditional things as in Germany the Oktoberfest, and parades - I used to love to see them on satellite tv[we don't get those channels on digital tv now]
What gives us a sense of identity? Is a new global identity forced on us along with Mcdonalds.
Strange how some things change fast and others very slow. I left school in 1969, when the space race was at it's height and I stayed up all night to watch men land on the moon. I had learned French and German, but nowadays my children learn only French because the government don't pay for more teachers at their school. So sad when we need to reach out to others and enjoy everyone's way of life.
Happy, healthy 2004 to all.
by Val @ 28/12/2003 3:12 pm • Permalink •
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Lived in Germany as an exchange student in 1969 and 1970 and remember two trips to East Berlin. Chilling to me at the time. My wife ordered the DVD of Good Bye Lenin! online from Germany as a Christmas present. After tricking our computer into believing it was in Europe, was able to view the movie and was blown away. What a triumph of story-telling! Warm and funny and sad and satisfying. Daniel Bruehl is quite the actor and clearly transcends the language barrier (I speak fluent German but my wife, who speaks not a word, was able to "follow" much of the plot). I hope we will see the movie in the theaters here in the U.S. soon!
by steve @ 31/12/2003 9:12 pm • Permalink •
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Being 16 years of age, I am sure that I am one of the younger one here....anyways. I have a great interest in history and politics, especially those of the Warsaw Pact nations. When I heard of Good Bye Lenin! I waited for a version to be released in the United States, however I grew impatient and ordereda copy off Ebay: Deutschland. I thought all DVDs were the same and was surprised when it didn't work in my DVD player, but I manged to get it to work on my computer after switching my computer to accept Region 2 (Germany, Switzerland, etc.) DVDs. Expecting a simple "slap-stick" comedy, I never expected to see a glorious and excellent social satire nor did I expect to obtain such an accurate account of the lives that were led in the East. Words can not describe what I felt. I laughed at some moments, and felt pain when lenin and the mothter move on. This is truly a great masterpiece!
by Bryan @ 10/01/2004 5:01 am • Permalink •
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Well is a nice movie. But I saw something really bad. Itâs a terrible continuation error (if I can say like thatâ¦). Alexâs friend is wearing a The Matrix t-shirt! And since the movie is spoted around the years 1989-90 and the firts Matrix movie was released in 1999â¦is no good! and other thing, in one of the scenes yo can see the microphoneâ¦ahh, terrible!
by MaJu @ 30/01/2004 8:01 pm • Permalink •
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