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Good Bye Lenin! 2003 ★★★★½
This is a great example of the beauty of cinema in its purest form. From the premise to the cast, the characters and the emotions they portray.
It starts with a premise... Be honest, as much as we all love this movie, try telling it without making it sound closer to Weekend at Bernie's than to Sophie's choice.
Nonetheless, this is where the cast shines. Daniel Brühl dazzles you with his performance, showing just how far Alex is willing to go to keep the jig up for the sake of his mother. Endlessly searching for a pot of Spreewald which, to any Westerner, would now probably taste awful. Or the very touching moment in the library with Sigmund Jähn. What? So they all look at him like he is crazy, who cares? If this is what makes mum happy, then by gum, that's what we'll do.
The movie is tsjock full of these touching moments: Alex and his sister meeting their father, or when Katrin Sass's Christiane confesses the deep secret she carries behind her facade of feistiness. And I cannot go without mentioning the scene where Kristiane leaves the building and is confronted with the changes of the past months. A very powerful image of somebody having the rug pulled from under them. Cinema magic at its best. You don't need words, since the images tell you everything.
The secondary characters only add layers to the drama. Arianne who works at Burger King and fully embraces capitalism. Leading to a brilliantly filmed confrontation with her brother. Saying, without explicitly going there: Verdammt, this is not about politics, this is about our mutti, scheisse. Or his friend Denis, a tv repairman from the West with hopes of becoming a director. He willingly becomes a pawn in Alex's game as an East German newscaster, complete with that awful Rudi Völler like stache. Also giving the director an excuse to squeeze in nods to both 2001 and A clockwork orange, copying the speeded up sex scene in the most unsexy setting imaginable. Intentional?
Because don't get me wrong: there are times when this movie is bust a gut funny. Like the bit with the Coca Cola banner and the ensuing fake news bit about Coca Cola being a socialist drink and all. (And yes, history has unintentionally added another layer to these images. But then I would digress.) Or the East Germans gathering in a sex shop. Holy crap, you mean this is possible here? Das kan doch gar nicht.
It's not a political movie, but it does show you how the changes affected society. The bank scene with Ariane and Alex in my opinion highlights the contrast between the endless waiting in the DDR and the rat race in BRD. Sigmund Jähn and the professor fall from grace, breeding the kind of bitterness and resentment that perhaps help explain certain later developments in this part of Germany. Alex and his girlfriend Lara – magnificently portrayed by Chulpan Khamatova – find an apartment where they can move in. Affordable? Empty. The previous owner just split after the collapse of the wall. Leaving behind the moccha fix and all without blinking an eye. To hell with it all. Implicitly saying more than a pamflet movie ever could.
Well recommended. For everyone.
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