2004 release in Germany. Rated R for brief language and sexuality. The film is set in East Berlin, 1989. Sentiment against the Berlin Wall builds in the city and Alex (Daniel Bruhl), the central figure of the film, finds himself in a street protest. As the crowd swallows him and police violence ensues, he sees his socialist mother collapse in the middle of the street.
He, unable to reach her through the craze, watches as she is rushed off to the hospital. She falls into a coma.
The movie progresses to show Alex visiting his mother daily, hoping that she can hear the sound of his voice through the all-encompassing silence of a coma. As she sleeps, the Wall falls. And the world, as Alex once knew it, changes drastically.
What he once thought was advanced, is no longer so in the face of Western technology. What he once saw as the undying Communist cause, is now a dead one. What he once conceived of fashion and decency, is no longer so. Every miniscule detail of his life, from the products he once bought to at the grocer's to the historical events he once thought were true, changes within what seems to be a single day.
Goodbye, Lenin! is an odd combination of comedy and drama revolving around a central theme of the absurdity of reality.
The film explores the extent of familial love, and the need of one to protect their loved ones from the harshness of life. It speaks to the bond between a mother and son while exploring the awkwardness of newfound love.
But it also focuses on the darker side of our absurd reality: family secrets kept locked in the hearts of loved ones, siblings who value fashion over family, and the obsession that results from endless lies.
Somehow, life-threatening sickness seems to bring about all of these discoveries-- the best and the worst in people, and the increasing absurdity of reality.
This non-Hollywood production is an apple to the eye, not only in terms of cinematography that reflects its central theme, but also in terms of the many messages one can draw from it.
As such, I definitely recommend it and hope that you draw from it what I did... Everyone's reality is as absurd as yours. And the world just keeps getting stranger.
References:
www.notfundo.com
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