"Good Bye, Lenin!" is a 2003 comedy starring Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass, and Maria Simon, directed by Wolfgang Becker, who co-wrote the script.
Bruhl, who has since done films such as Inglorious Bastards and The Fifth Estate, plays a young man, Alex Kerner, in an East Berlin family consisting of his mother (Sass), his sister (Simon), and later her husband and child. His father went to West Berlin on business and found love with another woman, and never returned, according to their mother.
Alex's mother becomes catatonic after her husband leaves and is committed to a mental institution. She comes home some time later, back to her old self. She becomes a social activist and does work with children, including directing a choir. She even receives a special government award.
During a government protest, in which Alex is arrested, his mother, trying to get somewhere, has a heart attack. She goes into a coma. Alex sees on television that Honecker, one of his mother's idols, has resigned. Then the wall comes down. His mother is comatose through it.
Alex feels that his mother is too fragile to receive any of this dramatic news, so once she wakes up, he keeps up the illusion that it is still the same old East Germany. He has his aspiring filmmaker friend (Florian Lukas), who now sells satellite systems door to door, produce fake newscasts, which he then puts into a VCR and shows as the current news. Since the supermarkets now contain new food, he has to dig old pickle bottles out of the garbage, disinfect them, put in pickles, and relabel the bottles so she won't know they're no longer available. It's a lot of work, but the doctors aren't sure that his mother will survive, even though she is awake. In the meantime, Alex falls in love with a nurse at the hospital, Lara (Chulpan Khamatova).
Really interesting, sometimes dramatic, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny film about all the changes that went on in East Berlin after the wall fell, and the westernization. At one point, when neighbors tell Alex's mother that they are from Wuppertal (in the west), Alex explains that the west is a mess and that many people are emigrating to the east.
All the acting is very good, especially from Katrin Sass, who gives a wonderful performance as Alex's mother. Daniel Bruhl as Alex is very earnest as the caring son.
All in all, a warm, original story and quite fascinating.
Bruhl, who has since done films such as Inglorious Bastards and The Fifth Estate, plays a young man, Alex Kerner, in an East Berlin family consisting of his mother (Sass), his sister (Simon), and later her husband and child. His father went to West Berlin on business and found love with another woman, and never returned, according to their mother.
Alex's mother becomes catatonic after her husband leaves and is committed to a mental institution. She comes home some time later, back to her old self. She becomes a social activist and does work with children, including directing a choir. She even receives a special government award.
During a government protest, in which Alex is arrested, his mother, trying to get somewhere, has a heart attack. She goes into a coma. Alex sees on television that Honecker, one of his mother's idols, has resigned. Then the wall comes down. His mother is comatose through it.
Alex feels that his mother is too fragile to receive any of this dramatic news, so once she wakes up, he keeps up the illusion that it is still the same old East Germany. He has his aspiring filmmaker friend (Florian Lukas), who now sells satellite systems door to door, produce fake newscasts, which he then puts into a VCR and shows as the current news. Since the supermarkets now contain new food, he has to dig old pickle bottles out of the garbage, disinfect them, put in pickles, and relabel the bottles so she won't know they're no longer available. It's a lot of work, but the doctors aren't sure that his mother will survive, even though she is awake. In the meantime, Alex falls in love with a nurse at the hospital, Lara (Chulpan Khamatova).
Really interesting, sometimes dramatic, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny film about all the changes that went on in East Berlin after the wall fell, and the westernization. At one point, when neighbors tell Alex's mother that they are from Wuppertal (in the west), Alex explains that the west is a mess and that many people are emigrating to the east.
All the acting is very good, especially from Katrin Sass, who gives a wonderful performance as Alex's mother. Daniel Bruhl as Alex is very earnest as the caring son.
All in all, a warm, original story and quite fascinating.