In the rankings of the best German films since 2000, one film usually takes the top places and for good reason: Hardly any film is as funny, sad and moving as Wolfgang Becker’s “Good Bye, Lenin!” – back in cinemas on October 1st!
More than 20 years ago, Wolfgang Becker celebrated “Good Bye, Lenin!” its premiere at the Berlinale 2003. The German reviews of the tragicomedy about the Ostalgie for the living environment and cultural artifacts of the GDR were cautious to negative. However, none of the reviewers, even the sympathetic voices, could have guessed at the time how the film would develop into a cultural event film not only in Germany but throughout Europe. Even the British were pleasantly surprised by the comedy!
“Goodbye Lenin!” returns to German film theaters on October 1, 2024 as part of the “Best of Cinema” series. And it’s worth it for everyone who hasn’t seen the film on the big screen yet or is still on their “must watch” list to take advantage of the opportunity.
Even the British love “Good Bye Lenin!”
After all, you should have seen the film that blew the British away so much (the first German film to gross more than a million pounds at the box office) that critics there… “the funniest film from Germany in a century” (Times) and “the best British film not made by the British” (Sunday Times)languages. “Goodbye, Lenin!” was so good and funny that the film turned the British prejudices against the humorless Germans on their head.
And the author of this article only gives top marks for “Good Bye, Lenin!”which was once criticized by some critics as softening the political reality of the GDR or as a romanticized declaration of love for a time that was bitter everyday life for many people. But “Good Bye, Lenin!” is about the political and cultural dimension. only secondary. First and foremost, the film is simply the story of a family that falls apart and grows back together as Germany splits and reunifies, all to keep the mother at the center alive.
From reality to fiction, to utopia
The plot of “Good Bye, Lenin!” is about the convinced socialist Christiane Kerner (Katrin Sass), who falls into a coma shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall and only awakens again after eight months, shortly before the monetary union. Her son Alex (Daniel Brühl) feels guilty because the trigger for her heart attack was his participation in an anti-GDR demo. In order to save her from further shocks of this kind, Alex recreates the GDR in her apartment and disposes of all the newfangled western products and modern furniture in order to keep up appearances. The Kerners’ apartment becomes a museum of revived socialism, where the neighbors soon feel at home when they stop by to keep Christiane in the GDR mood.
When the reality of the GDR no longer exists to support the socialist Kerner’s self-image, her son resurrects this reality as fiction for the bedridden mother. And he also does this with the use of media. Together with his friend Denis (Florian Lukas), Alex even shoots “current” GDR news in which the West is further demonized. The fiction of the GDR, which Alex presents to his mother as reality, soon becomes the perfect version, a utopia of the GDR in which there are no social problems and everyone is happy.
Flying Lenin heads, Spreewald cucumbers and Coca-Cola banners
Wolfgang Becker tells “Good Bye, Lenin!” so good-humoured and with so much sympathy for his characters that you can’t help but be carried away from the ingenuity of Daniel Brühl’s Alex Kerner. There are also some unforgettable scenes and images that are burned into the collective cultural memory of the German audience, from the flying Lenin statue swinging past a confused Christiane on the street to the increased importance of Spreewald cucumbers that are no longer available to intrusive advertising for West products such as the Coca-Cola advertising banner in front of the apartment window.
The initial situation of the plot then becomes even more intense when it turns out that not only is Alex spreading untruths in the family, but his mother also has some secrets that plunge her children into unexpected identity crises. It’s all staged at times funny, at times moving and finally touchingly forgiving. And an absolute must for anyone who likes to leave the cinema with both a teary eye and a laughing eye.
The “Best Of Cinema” series: Great cinema presented by FILMSTARTS
Wolfgang Becker’s German cinema classic is of course not the last film that will be shown in the “Best Of Cinema” series. Every month there is a new cult film that comes back to big screens across Germany. And the program is as high-caliber as it is varied.
It will continue in November 2024 with Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”. You can find the complete remaining program for 2024 in the following article:
FSK 18 sci-fi hit, action cult with Keanu Reeves & more: You’ll soon be able to experience all of these film highlights again in the cinema
