Day 47. Film Showing of Goodbye Lenin!

Goodbye Lenin! is another award-winning German movie released in 2003 about a young man trying to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a  coma that changed his family's life and his altogether.  Alexander Kerner, played by Daniel Brühl,  decided that he must keep his mother from knowing that the nation of East Germany as she knew it has changed. Set in the 1990s, the film touches remarkable and historical events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of capitalism, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The movie was written by Wolfgang Becker and Bernd Lichtenberg, and creatively directed by Becker. Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon and Alexander Beyer also star in this tragic-comedy film. It won the hearts of the local and international critics and claimed Bodil Awards' Best Non-American Film (2004); France's César Awards' Best European Union Film (2004); Directors Guild of Great Britain's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Foreign Language Film (2004); and garnered Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director from European Film Awards (2003) amongst several more categories. It was also the recipient of German Film Awards' German Film of the Year (2003).






✎ Goodbye Lenin! is one of my most favorite German movies. I find Becker's ability to center on differing ideologies through the portrayal of an East German family's fate after the reunification of Germany staggeringly appealing. I think Becker was able to catch, and delicately embroider the political tension, family values, and chunks of German history into a witty screenplay, with emphasis on not just comedy but shrewd drama.