Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832),
Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.
Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
’Good Bye, Lenin !’ is probably the most rib tickling
movie I have seen in some time. No matter if it is German
film and many readers on MouthShut may not even get the
oppurtunity to see it. But if you do get the chance please
do not miss it.
The main character of this story is Alex who lives in East
Berlin with his mother Christiane and sister Ariane. After his
fathers escape to the West, she turns into a staunch socialist,
her life dedicated to the GDR.
In the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, there are riots
against the regime and Christiane on her way to a party function
see’s her son being taken away by police, suffers a heart attck
and falls into coma.
While she is in the coma, the wall comes down, Germany is now one
country and the world of East Germany as she knows it is gone.
Coca Cola and Burger King are all over and Ariane is now having a
job in Burger King while Alex installs satellite dishes which broadcast’s
Vietnamese channels with his wannabe film director friend Denis.
When she regains consciousness, the doctors say that her memory will
be a little wonky and warn Alex that even the smallest shock could be fatal.
Afraid that the fall of GDR might give a life ending shock, Alex goes
about recreating the old GDR for her in the confines of her bedroom.
He searches thro rubbish piles for food cans/bottles of GDR products
and with Denis creates phony news broadcasts for her.
From recruiting her old neighbours to pretend life is as usual to
paying kids to sing socialist songs for her, he starts an elaborate
scam which seemingly has no end.
Does Christiane find out about the lies or does Alex tell her in the end ?
All this makes entertaining movie.
The direction is good and the screenplay falters in explaining Christiane’s
reaction to her husband departure.
Other than that the cast does a great job and at no point does the film feel
like a drag.
Very entertaining fare and I assume much better than last weeks trashy box office
topper ’Alien v/s Predator’ (blech)
Don’t let the language stop you. The DVD has excellent subtitles.
Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.
Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902)