GOOD BYE, LENIN!
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Contrary to the title, this film is about
one small room in East Germany that has returned
to the culture of Communist rule. It is one man's
attempt to protect his mother from the shock of
finding out that communism fell in the eight
months that she was comatose. While the film has
many serious moments the plot itself is more
appropriate to a farce than to a semi-serious
comedy-drama. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
Years ago when her husband defected to the West--and presumably
into the arms of another woman--Christiane (played by Katrin Sass)
threw herself whole-heartedly into patriotism for her country, the
German Democratic Republic. All her sexual energy was diverted
into public spirit. As a teacher she taught the virtues of
Communism to her young students. In 1989 when she saw her son
Alex (Daniel Bruhl) demonstrating against communism in a
demonstration that may be violently suppressed she has a heart
attack. She falls into a coma for eight months and is unconscious
while the old government dies, the Berlin Wall is toppled, and the
two Germanys are re-united. Also her daughter and later her son
fall in love. Then Christiane regains consciousness. It may be
too much of a shock to her to realize her beloved German
Democratic Republic is no more. She will be confined to her bed.
Alex decides to pull an elaborate ruse to make his mother believe
that the East of Germany is still under the control of Communism.
The task turns out to be more complex than Alex expected. He has
to recruit a friend and to film news stories for his mother's TV.
For East German brands that his mother liked, but that went away
with Communism, he must find old jars and refill them. The
script's biggest problem is in the complexity of the ruse. In a
farce the viewer is willing to suspend a great deal of disbelief
and ignore large logic holes. However GOOD BYE, LENIN! is not a
farce and has some serious drama. Much of the story is about
Alex's relationship with the father who defected leaving his
family behind. GOOD BYE, LENIN! might better be described as a
comedy-drama with some serious emotional interplay. Somehow that
seems to require a more logical world and the viewer needs to
believe the premise of the story. Much of the ruse is possible
only because of the contrivance that Alex's job selling satellite
television allows him to play his fictional news programs for his
mother. And he has the talent to write and photograph these
programs. (That is not as easy as it sounds. If you doubt me,
try writing a news story that could pass for an authentic piece of
network news.) He also is able to quickly improvise explanations
when his mother notices inconsistencies in this fantasy world he
has created.
The film never completely explains Christiane's apparent passion
for the German Democratic Republic. The story works only if we
believe the shock of the political change is sufficient to kill
Christiane. Certainly her children have long since eagerly
grasped the changes and newfound freedoms of the succeeding order.
Her son sells satellite TV and her daughter works at a Burger King
and has brought home a West German boyfriend. Of course there
must have been some patriots in East Germany, but it seems the
majority did not believe very strongly in the socialist political
system. Alex himself was inspired to believe in his country years
before when an East German became a cosmonaut, but he does not
have much disappointment in the political change. Among other
things, this film seems to be a paean to capitalism and the
changes it brought. So many of the Germans seem to have embraced
the new system and East Germany filled with the vibrant colors of
capitalism, even if they are the colors of advertisements.
The plot of GOOD BYE, LENIN! has holes, but the film itself is by
turns light and amusing and then dramatic and even affecting. But
somehow it just is not greatly believable. I rate it +1 on the -4
to +4 scale or 6/10. [-mrl]
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
========== X-RAMR-ID: 37528 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1269840 X-RT-TitleID: 1129584 X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10
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