GOOD BYE, LENIN!
Directed by: Wolfgang Becker.
Produced by: Stefan Arndt.
Written by: Bernd Lichtenberg & Wolfgang Becker.
Director of Photography: Martin Kukula.
Edited by: Katja De Bock, Andreas Schreitmüller.
Music by: Yann Tiersen.
Released by: Sony Picture Classics.
Country of Origin: Germany. 118 min. Rated: R.
With: Daniel Brühl & Katrin Sass.

After watching her son Alex's (Daniel Brühl) arrest during a protest in 1989 East Germany, Christiane (Katrin Sass) has a heart attack and falls into a coma. When she wakes suddenly eight months later, the doctor warns Alex and his sister not to shock their mother at any cost; any unnecessary stress could cause her to relapse. But Christiane, abandoned by Alex’s father, is married to socialism, the Berlin Wall has just fallen, and East Germany will soon reunite with the West. Alex convinces his sister and his mother's friends to go along with a ruse that will keep her in the dark about the new political changes: they must pretend that Socialism is alive and well. The challenges begin when Christiane’s favorite brand of pickles is replaced by the overwhelming culinary choices brought by gaudy capitalism. When a giant Coca Cola billboard goes up outside his mother's bedroom window, Alex convinces her that Coca Cola has become a product of the Leninist East. He even goes as far as to produce false newscasts. These charming and humorous scenes bring to light the differences between pre-1989 East Berlin and the present.

Director Wolfgang Becker also successfully shows the excitement of the new united Germany, while keeping in mind the potential perils of overwhelming commercialism. At one point, Alex commissions two school boys, Christiane’s former pupils, to sing socialist anthems to her. Word gets around and other boys show up ready to be paid to sing.

Good Bye, Lenin! has many indelible images: a dazed Christiane wanders the streets of Berlin, amazed to see a statue of Lenin hovering in the air by helicopter (on its way, presumably, to the trash heap). However, as the complex ruse is depicted in detail, the pace plods. A romantic subplot involving Alex and a comely nurse weighs the comedy down. Too often, the delicate George Winston-like score adds to the film’s somberness. It seems as though the director is fighting against the inclination to turn the film into farce. Yet, the plot is improbable, and the film mocks the differences between East and West, which are broadly played out. Let’s face it, it’s a farce. Overly serious, the film never quite takes flight (unlike Lenin). Caitlin Shamberg, former programming associate for the Mill Valley Film Festival
February 26, 2004