Movie No. 22 (2016): GOOD BYE LENIN!
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
Director: Wolgang Becker
Cast: Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass
In German, with English subtitles
Christiane, a loyal Party member, upon seeing his son, Alex, take part in an anti-Communist rally, the night before The Fall of the Berlin Wall, suffers a heart attack that will bring her to an 8-month coma. She'll miss a lot about the changes in the political landscape and the changes her son Alex and daughter Ariane have to experience and decide to do while she sleeps.
Director: Wolgang Becker
Cast: Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass
In German, with English subtitles
Christiane, a loyal Party member, upon seeing his son, Alex, take part in an anti-Communist rally, the night before The Fall of the Berlin Wall, suffers a heart attack that will bring her to an 8-month coma. She'll miss a lot about the changes in the political landscape and the changes her son Alex and daughter Ariane have to experience and decide to do while she sleeps.
The trick is, when she finally wakes up, Alex and Ariane must keep the changes from their mother for fear of another heart attack that might just be fatal. So, Alex and Ariane must do anything to protect their mother.
This is how I see it. I think the movie suggests that it's possible that, when it comes to matters of the heart and family, ideologies may just be set aside. The coma and waking-up subplots might just be. respectively, an allegory of politically-induced passiveness and delusions of the East Germans. In this way, the script succeeds. It may not be the best movie of this genre, but it certainly delivers more than what's expected.
Rating: 3.0/4.0
Date seen: April 24, 2016
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