Alex (Daniel Bruehl) is a 20-something young man, whose mother, on the surface a devoted citizen of communist East Germany, suffers a heart attack, having witnessed a protest in October 1989. After she 'wakes up' eight months afterward, the communist regime is gone and the unification of Germany after 42 years of split is pending. But Alex, afraid of a crushing blow this reality would mean for her, takes great pains to persuade his bed-ridden mom that German Democratic Republic is still a reality -- he gets out-of-use groceries for her, shows her old-times video footage and gets 'enthusiastic' neighbors playing their roles to achieve the goal. Yet we feel that the moment the mother Christiane (Katrin Sass) finally finds out what's going on, is imminent.

Director Wolfgang Becker skilfully and un-pathetically intertwines two layers of a story -- the real fate of this particular family is far from happy and is in a strange, thought-provoking contrast with the comedian bulk of the story. The film's sober bitter-sweetness confirms that almost nothing in this world is only black or only white.

Although the potential of the movie to let outsiders feel what it really meant for ordinary people to live on the wrong side of Berlin Wall is a bit questionable (although favored, "Good Bye, Lenin!" was snubbed at Oscar nominations), it's already one of the definitive film (and artistic) statements of Germany's unifying process and may well prove essential for students of German and maybe even Eastern Europe's history in the 20th century.


Beyond the playfulness -   March 20, 2004
 14 out of 23 found this review helpful

I heartily recommend "Good Bye Lenin". It has been a "major" movie in Germany. It has ushered in an era of "Ostologie" or nostalgia for the old days before the wall fell - when life was simpler than in the capitalistic west.

On a superficial level the movie could also be viewed as a yearning for the "good old days" of communism. I see a deeper, more important message in the film. It has do do with truth and how communism is an enemy of truth.

Communist rulers always believed that they knew better than the common people. They felt it was their duty to shape the actions of the common people toward more worthwhile goals. They felt so strongly about it that they were willing to distort the truth, and even use threats of and actual physical violence to get their way.

The main character, Alex, was raised under this system. He is a very loving son. But has he unconsciously picked up these same communist beliefs?

Alex's behavior in trying to "protect" his mother from the truth is very similar to the actions of communist/totalitarian governments which control the media in order to propagandize the citizens and "protect" them from what the ruling elites decide is not good for them.

At the dacha Alex's mother confesses that she has lied to her children for all those years, again to "protect" them from the truth. But in her confession she admits that this has been a great dis-service to them. She did it because of her own weakness and FEAR of retribution from the government. Somehow Alex never seems to get this message. Is it because his communist upbringing has blinded him to the importance of truth? Does he think that truth is only relative? Is he acting toward his mother like the communist state acted towards its citizens?

Isn't this movie fundamentally about truth? And the importance of truth?


How about Good bye, Hitler?   January 13, 2005
 14 out of 65 found this review helpful

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.