Kat's Film Reviews: Good Bye, Lenin!

Friday, April 16, 2004

Good Bye, Lenin!

Right after the closing credits started rolling, the couple in front of me said "What a charming film!" That, and the brilliant concept the film is predicated on, make it one of two films so far this year that are a "must-see" (yes, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the second one). The film is not without its flaws (that darn boom operator, and the numerous teeny tiny plot holes) but those really, truly don't matter by the time you get to the end. The director has crafted a film based on his experiences living in East Germany before and after the wall fell, and has written a fabricated story around his mother being in a heart attack-induced coma during reunification. In order to keep her stable, he must make her believe that East Germany still exists. This is both funny and touching at near simultaneous moments throughout the film (in no scene more so than when the statue of Lenin is helicoptered past the mother, pointing his finger at her as he flies by). And underneath it all is the radical notion that elements of socialist East Germany weren't so half bad. Or at least that a mix of capitalism and socialism is better than the polar opposites we have now in the world. I heartily endorse the film, and recommend it to anyone interested in different world views. And those who like to laugh hard.

year: 2003
length: 121 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/combined

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