This film resemblances the Socialist ideology that forms the core of its story in that it's a good idea that eventually goes awry and struggles on long after it should have come to a natural and dignified end. The idea, a kind of Rip van Winkle variation, is a good one, and is efficiently handled at first, but loses its way badly in the last third and begins to look exceedingly ordinary and somewhat melodramatic as it searches for a way to tie up all its loose ends.
Daniel Bruhl plays Alex, a young boy growing into manhood in the last days of the Socialist regime of East Germany. His mother (Kathrin Sass), who has brought Alex and his sister up alone since their father defected to the west, has embraced the country's socialist message as a result of his leaving. Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, she suffers a massive heart attack after seeing Alex arrested during a protest march, and falls into a coma. Eight months later, and with the old socialist regime nothing more than a memory, she miraculously awakens and, warned that any excitement might prompt another attack, Alex goes to extraordinary lengths to prevent her from discovering that the way of life she loved no longer exists.
The movie's summary sounds like it could be the plot of a farcical comedy, but Goodbye, Lenin is more of a drama with some humorous moments along the way, and it sometimes feels like writer/director Wolfgang Becker himself isn't sure in which direction the story should be heading. The central premise of the story, while intriguing, is pretty much the stuff of fairy tales and bears no close examination, so Becker, like his film's hero, must conjure up something special to distract and compel and paper over all those cracks. Sadly, despite a game try, he fails to do so; too often the storyline moves too slowly, giving us too much time to ponder the situation and reflect on the slightly creepy behaviour of Alex. After all, he's deceiving his mother and essentially keeping her imprisoned in her bedroom. He's doing it out of love for her, but that doesn't make it right and, for me, his charade grows increasingly disturbing once his mother escapes the confines of her room and wonders out into the brave new world to be confronted with western cars and adverts and a statue of Lenin suspended from a helicopter flying overhead. If a shock like that doesn't kill her then why continue with the charade? It is at this point, when Alex's deception becomes increasingly pointless, that the film really should have ended because all that comes afterwards serves only to diminish what came before. But instead of an ending we are shown Alex tracking down his father, who appears, visits his ex-wife then promptly disappears again. We are never made privy to the conversation the briefly reunited couple have and it is never mentioned. So why bother? And why have Alex's sister Ariane (Maria Simon) hunting for their estranged father's letters while her mother is being rushed to hospital? Does she think the letters will disappear if her mother dies?
Despite these glaring faults and inconsistencies there's much to admire in Becker's film, especially in the way he portrays the effect the demise of the socialist republic has on those who were happy living under its wing. The situation sort of turns around on Alex after his girlfriend (Chulpan Khamatova) fills his mother in on what has been going on and the charade continues for his sake rather than her's; it's a nice touch but by then it's too late for the film to recover from its self-inflicted wounds.
Daniel Bruhl plays Alex, a young boy growing into manhood in the last days of the Socialist regime of East Germany. His mother (Kathrin Sass), who has brought Alex and his sister up alone since their father defected to the west, has embraced the country's socialist message as a result of his leaving. Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, she suffers a massive heart attack after seeing Alex arrested during a protest march, and falls into a coma. Eight months later, and with the old socialist regime nothing more than a memory, she miraculously awakens and, warned that any excitement might prompt another attack, Alex goes to extraordinary lengths to prevent her from discovering that the way of life she loved no longer exists.
The movie's summary sounds like it could be the plot of a farcical comedy, but Goodbye, Lenin is more of a drama with some humorous moments along the way, and it sometimes feels like writer/director Wolfgang Becker himself isn't sure in which direction the story should be heading. The central premise of the story, while intriguing, is pretty much the stuff of fairy tales and bears no close examination, so Becker, like his film's hero, must conjure up something special to distract and compel and paper over all those cracks. Sadly, despite a game try, he fails to do so; too often the storyline moves too slowly, giving us too much time to ponder the situation and reflect on the slightly creepy behaviour of Alex. After all, he's deceiving his mother and essentially keeping her imprisoned in her bedroom. He's doing it out of love for her, but that doesn't make it right and, for me, his charade grows increasingly disturbing once his mother escapes the confines of her room and wonders out into the brave new world to be confronted with western cars and adverts and a statue of Lenin suspended from a helicopter flying overhead. If a shock like that doesn't kill her then why continue with the charade? It is at this point, when Alex's deception becomes increasingly pointless, that the film really should have ended because all that comes afterwards serves only to diminish what came before. But instead of an ending we are shown Alex tracking down his father, who appears, visits his ex-wife then promptly disappears again. We are never made privy to the conversation the briefly reunited couple have and it is never mentioned. So why bother? And why have Alex's sister Ariane (Maria Simon) hunting for their estranged father's letters while her mother is being rushed to hospital? Does she think the letters will disappear if her mother dies?
Despite these glaring faults and inconsistencies there's much to admire in Becker's film, especially in the way he portrays the effect the demise of the socialist republic has on those who were happy living under its wing. The situation sort of turns around on Alex after his girlfriend (Chulpan Khamatova) fills his mother in on what has been going on and the charade continues for his sake rather than her's; it's a nice touch but by then it's too late for the film to recover from its self-inflicted wounds.