Goodbye Lenin!

Goodbye Lenin! revolves around Alex, a young man living in East Germany under a socialist regime both inside and outside of the house as his mother is a firm believer in the system and spends all her hours dedicating herself to the state. He, however, longs for change and the end of this way of life for him and his countrymen. He is also reaching an age where he becomes fascinated by the opposite sex and has eyes for one girl in particular, Kathrin, whom he spots at a march against the government in 1989.

Unfortunately his mother, delayed on her way to a social event because of a protest, spots her son being arrested after getting caught up in violence of which he was not participating [he was following the young girl] and collapses on the spot. He is however suddenly released from an impending prison stretch because his mother is not only respected in the regime but has in fact fallen into a coma. He bounds himself to her bedside every day until she should wake up.

8 months later she awakes from her coma but a lot has changed as it is now 1990 and the Berlin Wall has fallen. The doctors warn that she should not be allowed to become excited as this may cause another heart-attack. Therefore, Alex makes the decision that she should not know that the Berlin Wall has come down and that Germany is unified.

The film then deals with Alex’s attempts to prevent the knowledge of the outside world from reaching his mother as he feels responsible for her condition. He must conceive more and more outrageous ways of preventing the outside into her life. The film handles this well and every scene is as believable as it is hilarious and also incomprehensible.

If you are looking for laughs, look no further than saying hello to Goodbye Lenin!

I would give this 3.5 tsars out of 5