User Reviews

I didn't have too many expectations for this film. My partner pitched it to me as a comedy, and I hadn't seen the trailer in a while so I went into thinking that's all it would be. Instead, it really was a sublimely sophisticated film.

I had the good fortune to see East Berlin first in July 1989 (there was *ZERO* hint that the wall would be down in 4 months) and then in February 1990. It was an amazing before and after, and I thought this film captured this very well. As a visitor to the East for several months that year, this film really brought back to me the East European Quiet Revolution when everything really did change.

The characters going through that change are of course an allegory for the changes all around them- '40 years gone! They sold us up river!' says an old man who represents those who 'lost' in the reunification contrasted to those who won-the youth. Similarly, the contrast of personal re-unification (the children and their father) vs that of the east and west is a wonderfully treated theme through the film…. And of course lies. Lies to comfort us, lies to deal with other lies. A very, very touching film.

'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.

Last night I watched it for the second time. I'd seen it at the cinema two years ago, then last night my boyfriend, who hadn't seen it, decided to rent it. I loved it first time round, I loved it second time round, maybe even a tad more than I did originally. With wonderfully engaging characters all round, the film is endowed with a great sense of humour, both visual and verbal (and those Europhobic old Brits keep going on about how the Germans have no sense of humour!), it's socially relevant yet easier to watch than a straight comedy. The script is intelligent yet accessible to anyone, even a shallow teenager with no attention span whatsoever... yet IT is never shallow. And most of all, it's a deeply moving little gem of a film which however never abuses its secure grip on the heart-strings. I could see even my boyfriend was dewy-eyed at some points! And so was I, even more than two years ago. A small but perfectly formed film, it's actually not as small as one might think at first impact. Love (specifically, filial love) is its main theme, treated in a schmaltz-free, fresh, non-superficial and a non-clichéd manner.

The destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a historically significant event not just for the people of Germany, but also for much of the rest of the world. Aside from reuniting two vastly different political systems, this remarkable incident marked a turning point for the capitalist uprising occurring within many of the other socialist states. Filmmakers worldwide have since explored the causes and effects of the German Reunification, and even today, they continue to bring new insight and a fresh perspective to an event that occurred nearly fifteen years ago. Wolfgang Becker's GOOD BYE, LENIN! is among the most recent of such films, and probably among the best of them as well.

Rather than charging head-on at a specific political standing, GOOD BYE, LENIN! uses carefully controlled satire to poke fun at the absurdities of both communist and capitalist societies. And despite criticism from gung-ho supporters of either system, Becker is careful not to take sides or appear sympathetic toward any political institution. Instead of concentrating exclusively on the governmental changes of the newly reunified Germany, he wisely opts to narrow his focus on the effects that these changes have on one particular Berlin family. By doing this, Becker is able to show the challenges of adapting to a new, unfamiliar way of life in a context that is much more personal and easier for the viewer to identify with.

The humor in GOOD BYE, LENIN! is plentiful, and Becker takes advantage of every possible opportunity to fit in a comedic moment. Even during the most somber parts of the story, the film never lets go of its astute sense of humor; and because the humor is always thought-provoking and cleverly executed, it never feels forced or gratuitous. The running joke about Alex's unremitting quest for Spreewald pickle jars and the scene where Alex's bedridden mother is perplexed by the Coca-Cola banner hanging from the building across from hers' are brilliant examples of the movie's sharp, yet sensitive wit. Aside from just being funny in themselves, these bits work doubly well because of their uses of symbolism and metaphor. The Spreewald pickles, now impossible to find because of the fall of the GDR, are representative of the `good old days' when Alex was familiar with the ways of his country and when his mother was in good health. His almost frantic search for them shows his longing to return to the way things used to be. Likewise, the unfurling of the Coca-Cola banner is the perfect embodiment of all the capitalist changes occurring within the new Germany. Once you begin to see the Coca-Cola and Burger King logos, you know that capitalism has truly grabbed hold and that there is now no escaping its embrace, for better or for worse.

GOOD BYE, LENIN! makes great use of this type of imagery to emphasize the country's transformation and to provide insight to the emotions of the main characters. A most notable instance of this is the scene where Alex's mother, a staunch supporter of socialism, finally leaves her home to a very different East Germany than the one she remembered. She then looks to the sky and sees a helicopter airlifting a statue of Lenin off the top of a building. As Lenin is being hauled away, his outstretched arm seems to be reaching out to her, as if he's calling out for her to rescue him and his ideals, and restore her beloved country.

Alex's complex lies and meticulous attempts at preserving the past for his mother are innocent enough at first, but eventually they begin to take on a life of their own. The lengths he goes through to maintain the atmosphere of a bygone era and keep his mother happy are indeed funny, but they are also very tragic as well. Though the lies do work temporarily to keep his mother oblivious to the events outside of her apartment, they also plunge Alex and his family into such a deep pool of deception that they eventually lose their closeness with one another. The stress of keeping up the façade becomes unbearable for Alex, and at one point he even wishes his mother were dead.

Other humor was purely cultural, and probably only appreciable by people who have actually experienced the Reunification. I noticed this only because of the native German family sitting in front of me at the theater, laughing in unison at dialogue and images that didn't look to me like they were meant to be interpreted as humorous. But still, even though the older generations of German people are likely to get more out of this movie, it is still a hilarious, heartfelt, and incredibly rewarding experience for people of all cultures and ethnicities.

I found this movie to be a charming film and very engaging on both a personal and a social level. The story is drawn from the lives of an East Berlin family struggling to cope with the changing world as their way of life is challenged. The father, having reportedly left the family for the West years before, is not present and the mother replaces her spousal needs with the love of her country and its way of life.

The premise of the film centers on the frail mother, who falls into a coma mere weeks before the fall of the Berlin wall. Eight months later, she regains consciousness, and her children are told not to excite her, lest she have another episode.

Bound by their love of their mother, the son and daughter seek to shield her from the changes in her culture. In their apartment, they recreate the conditions of the world she remembers, right down to the labels on the food they serve her. As the mother comes into contact with the inevitable disparities between her new world and the one she remembers, the son compounds the deception, eventually creating false newscasts to explain the phenomena she witnesses in a manner more consistent with her core assumptions of life.

The film is touching, tender, funny and dramatic. However, the elements that really drew me in were the historical construction and the plot device of deception.

The historical construction was the way in which the son, through his efforts to explain the increasingly Westernized elements of German society his mother observes, recreates East Germany as the country he could have faith in. As he recreates history to incorporate current events, he softens the harshness of the party rhetoric, reforming the socialistic ideal closer to the compassion for the masses and the acceptance of the 'enemy' capitalists. The film makes ample use of actual news footage in his narrative, footage that adds sharp contrast to Alex's version.

This contrast is a striking reminder about how much of our social conscience is constructed through the lenses we choose to observe reality and recall history. Alex had quickly come to give up his socialist devotion (though the film does make it clear form the beginning that the adult Alex was already disenchanted with it). But as Alex fabricates news reports and artifacts for the illusion he's providing his mother, he actually appears to be inventing a system of socialism that he can feel proud of. It's almost as if in trying to console his mother, he connects to her by reinterpreting her world into something he can interface with, building common ground.

How much of our own social history is constructed in this manner? We champion our own system of free market democracy as the 'city on the hill' for other nations. We raise up the virtues of our freedom and individuality (and there are indisputably many virtues), while ignoring some of the more sorted historical results it has yielded. We choose which portions of our history we celebrate, and which portions we condemn to academic obscurity.

Americans use history to construct our national mythology. Like Homer and Virgil before us, we compose idealized stories of virtue and create narratives that resound with the language of legendary epics. And because of this mythology building exercise, we often fail to see our own cultural reality for the flawed imperfect collection of group effort that it is. That's why we feel so betrayed when our leaders make simple human mistakes or we see representatives of our culture participating in a manner that runs counter to our values.

No where is this phenomenon so pronounced as when it comes to our national leaders. We look back on our founding fathers and through our myth building, elevate them to superhuman stature. Our high school students may not remember what wars Washington fought in or what political initiatives he took but they remember that he cut down a (fictional) cherry tree and refused to lie about it.

We remember the elegant words that our predecessors crafted without remembering the pain and suffering their efforts exacted from other people. We remember that Thomas Jefferson advocated 'Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political …' while conveniently forgetting that he was ambivalent at best to the degree that freedom extended to those in a state of slavery. We forget that founding father quarreled, that at times they misrepresented each other's interest to foreign leaders and that on occasion may have even tried to kill one another.

The founding fathers we remembered were well educated, civil and wise.

Against this tapestry of myth we watch contemporary politics play out, trying desperately to spin events into frameworks that reinforce our desires for justice and virtue.

We are all Alex, trying to reconstruct a new view of history that makes us more proud of where we come from. We invent and reinvent history to suit our needs and like Alex, do so in the name of providing a safe environment (or better way of life) for others.

This was a good film, and I think it needed to be made. A way of life disappeared in Europe, perhaps forever, and it seems appropriate that the fall of Communism has thus been documented.

The basic premise of "Goodbye Lenin" is that the young man's mother is in a coma over the months when the Berlin Wall is coming down. She wakes up (oblivious) in united Germany, but as she is so fragile she cannot be allowed to know that everything she held dear has collapsed. What ensues is a comic and moving scenario - her son does his best to pretend that nothing has changed.

Yes, the movie is a little drawn-out. And most of the comedy is lost on non-Germans, or those unaware of the political climate in the region. However, there are clear universal issues to be considered; idealism, hope, family. There is one particular scene which I thought encompassed exactly how the main protagonist feels - he is at a bank trying to change his mother's old East German currency into Deutschmarks but the deadline has passed. He becomes aggravated by the sheep-like behaviour of his peers. After all, this is their culture being crushed by McCapitalism, but their individual vaunting ambition blinds them from doing something about it. Very refreshing to see this on the big screen.

All in all, "Goodbye Lenin" is a nicely-rounded statement of where the European film industry is heading, and it will appeal to most independent-minded people on both an artistic and political level. 8/10.

The concept of this movie, which is that a young man has to do all in his power to stop his mother who is recovering from a heart attack learning of what's happened to Germany while she was in a coma, is absolutely delicious, but it's a premise that could easily go wrong. However, I'm pleased to report that it certainly didn't go wrong, and through interesting characterisation, a great script and some thought-provoking ideas; Good Bye, Lenin! is a winner all the way! An excellent ensemble gives way to a story that has a lot of heart, and one that makes it's points - both politically and otherwise - without the use of a sledgehammer. Good Bye, Lenin! is one of those films that is what you make of it; on the one hand, it's a touching and entertaining story of a boy's journey into adulthood and his love for his mother, but on the other hand; it's a biting political satire that intertwines themes of how our perception of certain truths can impact our lives.

Daniel Brühl, a young Spanish talent, takes the lead role as 'Alex', the young man at the centre of the tale. Through his subtle acting, Daniel is able to capture the determination and adoration that epitomise his character wonderfully. He is joined by the beautiful Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon and Alexander Beyer, who lend support to Brühl, as his girlfriend, sister and sister's boyfriend respectively, along with Kathrin Sass, who takes the central role of the mother recovering from a heart attack. I can't pick a single fault with any one of them. The setting of the fall of the Berlin Wall serves as a great place to set this story, as it allows the film to give a commentary on the changes of Germany's political landscape at the same time as allowing us to take in themes of family, love and the perception of truth that are abundantly clear. There aren't many bad things that I can say about it, and the only one really is that it can be a bit over sentimental at times. On the whole, however, Good Bye, Lenin! is an absolute treat and most certainly one of the better movies to have been released so far this decade.

This story has it all : family tragedy, growth (from child to adult and even growth as an adult), dealing with political and social change, and romance. I think the story gives one a good idea of just how much change occurred when the Iron Curtain fell over Eastern Europe and the difficulties and opportunities it brought. The story revolves around Alex, his sister and their mother. Their mother has a heart attack and then goes into a coma. During her coma, communism fell and then she wakes up. Advised by her doctor that she cannot take any form of excitement, Alex goes about creating the illusion that communism is alive and well. This often takes a comical twist on the differences between the communist east and capitalist west. There is also the subtle hint of discrimination by both sides against the other. In the end the story is about family and loved ones and what we are willing to do to make those around us happy. Go out and rent this movie.

-Celluloid Rehab

This German movie is a touching tale about a mother who has a heart attack just before the Berlin Wall comes down. When she wakes up from her coma months later, the wall has come down, and Germany is about to unite East and West Germany into one country. After being warned that any shocks could make his mother suffer a second more fateful heart attack, her son resolves to keep the illusion of East Germany's continued existence, until she gets better.

The DVD box for this movie claims that the resulting efforts of the son to keep up the pretence lead to hilarious consequences. The movie isn't as funny as that, but it does have a lot of humour in it. In fact it's a rather touching tale of the relationship between mother and son.

The performances of Daniel Bruhl, as Alex the son and Kathrin Sass as the mother are very impressive. And the script by Wolfgang Becker and Bernd Lichtenberg is funny, and touching with some imaginative touches, as the increasingly desperate Alex comes up with some bizarre and inventive ways of keeping the illusion going.

Wolfgang Becker directs with some nice touches, yet never lets the story get ridiculous. By focusing on the relationship between son and mother, he keeps the story tight and avoids it getting too sentimental.

As mentioned, the movie is touching yet the humour that runs through it keeps a smile on your face, and the ending is moving. On the whole though, while I enjoyed it immensely I don't think it's the masterpiece some critics have suggested. It's slightly too long, and the story does run out of steam towards the end, but overall it's definitely worth watching.

"Goodbye Lenin" begins about a decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A family of four lives in East Germany. When the father goes on a business trip, he doesn't return--he's defected to the West. The mother, in reaction to this, becomes a super-communist--devoting all her energy in working with kids and indoctrinating them about the wonders of East Germany. She is so devoted, that she is even given a major award--she's a hero of the nation.

A decade passes. Just before the Wall falls, the lady has a heart attack and is in a coma for eight months. During this time, HUGE social upheaval occurs when the Wall falls. No longer communist, East Germans clamor to keep up with the changes. And then, the mother awakens. But, her family (in particular her son) is afraid to tell her about the changes, as they've been told she is on borrowed time and will probably soon die--and a scare could easily kill her. So, they decide to hide the fall of their nation from her and pretend it's all the same old East Germany when she awakens. But how long can they keep up this crazy pretense?!

I won't tell you what's next, but I will say that this film is exceptional BUT is also hard to really categorize. While parts of funny, it really isn't a comedy (particularly when the mother divulges a HUGE secret). It can be funny at times but also quite sad as well. It's unusual to say the least--but not in a bad way. See this film, as I really think we should encourage and embrace films that have plots that aren't just derivative or mindless. This film is highly creative, complex and well made throughout. See this film.

My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I think the film is a bit over-long. It's hard to maintain its momentum and the film loses a tiny bit of its punch because of this. But, as I said this is a VERY small complaint.

In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man (Daniel Bruhl) must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

While the humor of this film is the deception these people present for the benefit of one woman, it actually has a much deeper message than that. We see here the difficulty of switching systems, especially with such a messy bureaucracy. The mother may have a hard emotional switch, but everyone else has to make their own adjustments, sometimes with greater or lesser success.

I did appreciate using Burger King to represent the evils of capitalism ("monetary circulation"). I wonder if that is one of the few companies they received clearance for, because it certainly is not the first fast food chain I think of. I can see the Coca-Cola part, and very much appreciated the reference to that classic James Cagney film...

I must say, people who haven't lived in one of the socialist countries can watch this movie, but they will never really understand it. Who hasn't personally experienced the fall of socialism, will never understand the mixed emotions that this film reminds viewers from Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and other ex-socialist countries of Eastern and Central Europe - the euphoria of freedom (but also the hardships our countries had to - and still have to - face) and the nostalgia for some aspects of life back then before 1989... So, I must say, I just loved the movie, but not because it is a particularly good one, but because it evokes such powerful emotions out of me. In the end, the protagonist comments, that he will always associate the memory of his mother with the memory of an era and a country that no longer exists. I exactly know what he means... I was 9 when socialism fell in my home country, so I belong to the last age group that experienced life in the socialist era. I am one of the last ones who remember what was life like then - and I don't regret that at all. In fact, that is a really emotional memory that I have, and I am proud that my country helped to remove the first brick from the Wall... Finally, let me recommend a similar film from Hungary - Moszkva tér (Moscow square)...

Unfortunately I seem to be in the minority of people who really did not like this film. I watched it as it was lent to me by a friend who really likes it so I thought I would try it.

The plot is an interesting concept - a loving son tries to protect his mother from a possibly lethal shock by recreating East Berlin in their flat after the collapse of the wall. However, for me, it sits uneasily between comedy and drama - having neither enough humour for a comedy or feeling serious enough for a drama.

And despite the original plot idea not much seems to happen. There are several slightly inane subplots which seem to have no relevance to the rest of the story and do not aid it in the slightest.

Saying that, the acting is competent all round, if not outstanding and the conclusion is satisfying. But the pace is slow, the story unengaging and most of the characters not likable or charismatic in the slightest.

If you are fan of those movies where not much seems to happen then you will probably enjoy this - but I do not mean that I only like fast paced action movies by any means. Maybe I missed something as this seems to be a universally popular film!

Just as Rip Van Winkle slept through the American Revolution and woke up twenty years later to find himself a citizen of a brand new country, so Kathrin Sass, an East German woman, slips into a coma on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall only to wake up eight months later a member of a capitalist society. This is the premise of 'Good Bye Lenin,' a clever and affectionate tale about truth, love and family ties that transcends all national borders and boundaries.

Kathrin, a woman who has dedicated her life to the perpetuation of Communist Party ideology, suffers a major heart attack that plunges her into a comatose state a few months prior to the dissolution of the land she knows as East Germany. While she is 'asleep,' governments tumble, barriers crumble and a whole new tide of Western goods and values comes flooding eastwards to a ravenous, eagerly awaiting public. Then she wakes up. Fearing that the shock of finding such a radically changed world will lead to a second heart attack, her loving son, Alex, devises an elaborate scheme to shield her from the truth and to make her believe that the world she lives in now is the same world she knew eight months before (the basic premise is not that different from the one in 'Jacob the Liar').

'Good Bye Lenin!' is an amusing regional comedy that derives its laughs from two basic sources: the near-slapstick nature of the charade Alex is attempting to perpetrate, and the script's satirical view of a society rushing madly to embrace the joys of unbridled consumerism they have been so long denied. Given its gimmicky premise, 'Good Bye Lenin!' could have emerged as a one-joke comedy were it not for the fine sense of irony and absurdity that writer/director Wolfgang Becker (working with co-writer Bernd Lichtenberg) has brought to the project. In addition, young Daniel Bruhl as Alex and Katrin Sab as Kathrin deliver expert, moving performances that go to the very essence of the mother/child relationship.

I must confess that this film, despite its generally upbeat tone, brings with it a certain rueful sadness that the filmmakers may not exactly have intended. Could it really have been a mere fifteen years ago that the events depicted in this film actually happened - a mere fifteen years ago that the future of the human race seemed so full of joy, hope and promise? Now, in a post 9/11 world - where sectarian hatred and international terrorism rule the day - this image of people coming together to cast off the shackles of bondage and embrace freedom seems already like a quaint memory from the long distant past. In a strange way, the film has become something of a relic in its own time, outstripped by a world that has long since moved on to bigger and more dire concerns. 'Good Bye Lenin' reminds us of just how long ago and far away the Cold War really was.

Today there is no more die Deutsche Demokratische Republik, there's no People's Republic of Bulgaria, no Yugoslavia, no Czeskoslovenska Socialisticka Republika, no USSR... The entire "Progressive World", apparently having reached the final stage of political and social self-actualization, decided there's no more place for it to develop into the material existence, and went altogether into Nirvana. They left a political vacuum, a socio-economic crisis, wars, misery, and all else that many of you remember, while others have just seen on TV.

I am born during the last years of communism, but don't remember much of it. What I clearly remember was the downfall of the system. The crowds, the demonstrations, the blue flags, people crying, singing "Freedom! Freedom! Time is ours! 45 years is enough!". My grandmother took me into her hands, so that two polish photographers took a picture of us (she later on told me), and yes, the day after tomorrow we would live like in a wonderful Hollywood film. We didn't. And my entire generation passed its childhood into a lingering crisis, which broke down the society, the values, the morals, people fled the country, as if it was infected with plague.

Today in the place of die Deutsche Demokratische Republik is Ost-Deutschland. A country, where entire buildings are empty, people having moved to the West. Investors don't chose the Ost for their capitals, they'd rather invest into Czech or Poland, where the workers are as qualified and several times cheaper. Today Bulgaria is slowly improving, and maybe in the next 200 years it will catch up the economic standard of the EU. Yugoslavia was torn by war after war, the Soviet Union collapsed into different countries, which had never been independent, Slovakia broke off from the Czech Republc, in search of its own Moravian identity.

And a dream that came to replace the slavery of oppression and Nazism, and that was meant to continue for a thousand years at least, collapsed under its corruption.

But the memory was fresh. The evils of corruption and concentration camps for political prisoners faded away, and only romanticism remained. Memories of a past that never was, or never should have been, or was, and had to be. Red t-shirts with yellow CCCP written on them became fashionable, referring to communism became a sort of a common identity for Eastern European students in western universities, nostalgia filled the hearts of many, and this was also expressed into the arts.

It was a very sad film. I recommend it to all of you, who remember, and don't remember, who know, and don't know, or would like to know, or don't care about, or whatever. It is not a Hollywood high-budgeted blockbuster. It's far from that, but it's touching, true, amusing, and sad.

I saw this movie recently on DVD. It was hard on me since there were only a German language track as well as only German subtitles. But it was easier than i thought understanding everything. And this movie was certainly worth it.

This is a movie about Alex and his mother. At the end of the communist era in DDR, before the reunification, Alex is walking in a demonstration. His communist mother sees him and is so shocked at his participation in something like this that she has a stroke. She falls into a coma and stays that way for eight months. And when she wakes up there is no more Berlin wall and no more DDR. But Alex fears she could never stand hearing this so he recreates the DDR in a bedroom in the family's apartment and upholds the illusion of DDR for his mother.

This movie is incredibly funny. I might start by saying that i have never been to Germany (East nor West) and that my knowledge of Germany comes mostly from TV, books and the German-classes in school. So the enjoyment of this film doesn't demand that you know everything about Germany, but of course some basic knowledge of history is required.

When i first saw it i was expecting a very light comedy. Something that would be very funny in a light and care-free way. But that is not what we are served here, what is served though is even better. As much as this movie is funny it is also sad. In a way it mourns for the things lost when DDR fell, but it is nostalgia that doesn't wish a way back. Rather it's just appreciating that there were good things in the DDR too. Which is a nice thing to hear since much of what has been reported here has been very one-sided.

Daniel Brühl is excellent as the main character Alex. I don't know how good his English is, but my guess is that he will be seen in Hollywood soon enough if that is his wish. Katrin Saß is also excellent as his mother. This movie is well directed, well made and well acted. It promises well for the German film industry. And it is certainly a recommended viewing.

I rate this 7/10.

Mother of young Alex has a heart-attack and falls into a deep coma in 1989, and when she comes out of it (about 8 months later), finds that the BRD and DDR have re-united into 1 Germany. Well, she should have found that out anyway...

But Alex fears his mother (and her weak heart) won't survive such a shock and acts like nothing happened, changing their appartment back East Germany style. He even puts all their food back in typical DDR jars and makes up his own news-coverage with friend and starting director Denis.

Movie has a lot of things going for it but it's just way too long. After a while, bed-bound mother Christiane 'escapes' her appartment and goes outside. There's a wonderful scene with a Lenin statue flying by, and this should have been about the end of the movie. But instead it goes on and has the father introduced in the movie, being re-united with his old family... there's just too much going on.

Music by Tiersen isn't as brilliant as in Amelie, but he gets the job done, as this movie is okay, but not as good as I expected. I'll give it 6/10.

Communism has a bad rep sometimes. Yes, there was fear and state control and all the bad stuff, but in all honesty, the counterparts of the Cold War had imperialism (culminating in the german version of hell from the second world war) and racism and other ills - the first black person to space was sent by the Soviets, as well as the first man and first woman, fact worth thinking about.

But there is another, gentler side to the regime, in which many people believed and had some legitimate if naive reasons to do so. This movie is a sincere portrayal of Ostalgie, a nostalgic love of the communism, notwithstanding its faults. A version of it exists in many ex communist countries, from Yugoslavia (where given what came after its dissolution, and given the mild nature of the communist regime that gave populace much better lives they had compared to other communist countries or any time before or after, yugonostalgia is very strong) to post Soviet countries to East Germany.

Brain washed Americans and some other western people might find this strange but this is heartfelt, true and authentic phenomenon that they might well try to get to understand. This movie might help, so watch it with an open mind. You should, because it is a gem.

For posterity sake I have to mention this is my fifth German film: "Das Boot," "Downfall," "Run Lola Run!," "The Wave," and now this one. It's going well.

Imagine waking up and the world was drastically different. I don't mean in an absurd way like "Idiocracy," but I suppose that isn't too much different from what occurred in "Good Bye Lenin!" When Mrs. Werner (Katrin Sass) fell into a coma Germany was divided deeper than hip-hop in the 90's. There was no wall separating Biggie and Tupac while there was one dividing Germany. After eight months of being comatose she awoke and Germany was totally different. Mrs. Werner would not come to know that because her son, through an elaborate charade, kept that hidden. Her doctor told him that if she got even the least bit excited, she could suffer another heart attack, and for a die hard socialist party member like herself, finding out that the German Democratic Republic had collapsed would be more than a little exciting. Hence, with keeping his mother's health in mind, Alex (Daniel Bruhl) set out to fool his mother as long as he possibly could.

It is an interesting and even educational movie. Though I was a kid I remember the fall of the Berlin wall, but I only remember it as snapshot images on the news from here in America between watching sitcoms and cartoons. "Good Bye Lenin!" gives the viewer an inside look of what the unification of Germany was like. What looked like a seamless transition to the rest of the world was a dramatic shift for true believers and this film tried to capture that through the eyes of a young man helping his infirmed East German mother.

While the walls come tumbling down, you have to build; as the progress will leave mother most un-thrilled, after falling in a coma, there should be no misnomer, to what will happen if she finds the party killed. It's a challenge going back to days of commune, all those delicacies so loved, have been consumed, no more censorship and lies (well, not as much perhaps), where the capitalist flag flies, we need to keep her in her room in a cocoon.

Still a wonderful piece of filmmaking with great performances and some genuinely laugh out loud moments and goes well with The Lives of Others as a companion piece, although not too much to bring a smile to your face in that piece.

"Good Bye, Lenin!" is a 2003 comedy starring Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass, and Maria Simon, directed by Wolfgang Becker, who co-wrote the script.

Bruhl, who has since done films such as Inglorious Bastards and The Fifth Estate, plays a young man, Alex Kerner, in an East Berlin family consisting of his mother (Sass), his sister (Simon), and later her husband and child. His father went to West Berlin on business and found love with another woman, and never returned, according to their mother.

Alex's mother becomes catatonic after her husband leaves and is committed to a mental institution. She comes home some time later, back to her old self. She becomes a social activist and does work with children, including directing a choir. She even receives a special government award.

During a government protest, in which Alex is arrested, his mother, trying to get somewhere, has a heart attack. She goes into a coma. Alex sees on television that Honecker, one of his mother's idols, has resigned. Then the wall comes down. His mother is comatose through it.

Alex feels that his mother is too fragile to receive any of this dramatic news, so once she wakes up, he keeps up the illusion that it is still the same old East Germany. He has his aspiring filmmaker friend (Florian Lukas), who now sells satellite systems door to door, produce fake newscasts, which he then puts into a VCR and shows as the current news. Since the supermarkets now contain new food, he has to dig old pickle bottles out of the garbage, disinfect them, put in pickles, and relabel the bottles so she won't know they're no longer available. It's a lot of work, but the doctors aren't sure that his mother will survive, even though she is awake. In the meantime, Alex falls in love with a nurse at the hospital, Lara (Chulpan Khamatova).

Really interesting, sometimes dramatic, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny film about all the changes that went on in East Berlin after the wall fell, and the westernization. At one point, when neighbors tell Alex's mother that they are from Wuppertal (in the west), Alex explains that the west is a mess and that many people are emigrating to the east.

All the acting is very good, especially from Katrin Sass, who gives a wonderful performance as Alex's mother. Daniel Bruhl as Alex is very earnest as the caring son.

All in all, a warm, original story and quite fascinating.

This is the story of a socialist mother in East Germany who falls into coma while watching a demonstration in October 1989 and waking up eight months later. In the meantime the German Democratic Republic and everything which was typical for it has ceased to exist. To not endanger her life, her son fools her into believing the old GDR still exists.

Good idea, but the filmmakers couldn't decide whether to make this a comedy or a drama. The result is, at times it is quite funny, but overall - hmmm - I would not consider it boring, but I didn't find it exciting either. On TV it would have been okay, but not on the big screen.

It was quite interesting though to see the differences which had existed between East and West Germany and how everything has changed in East Germany after the reunification.

It was also fun to see to what lengths the caring son goes to explain to his mother all those changes during the reunification which he could not hide from her (like advertisement, fugitives in the Prague embassy, West European cars in the streets...) to make her believe she still lives in the German Democratic Republic. He even fakes the news on TV.

But at times, especially near the end, the pacing is too slow and after a while there are no new ideas left. They could easily have cut it by 10 minutes.