Good Bye, Lenin!

Good Bye, Lenin! is an award-winning comedy about the fall of the Wall in 1999 and the subsequent upheavals in East German society, seen through the eyes of a young East German.

Alex is only 11 when his father flees to West Germany in 1978. His mother Christiane falls into a black hole, but through a passionate commitment to the socialist cause she overcomes her depression.

In the autumn of 1989 Christiane suffers a stroke and falls into a coma. When she wakes up again, the Wall has fallen and a great deal has changed in East Germany. Alex and his sister Ariane are told that their mother will not be able to survive a shock of any kind. How can they tell their mother that the GDR no longer exists? Alex comes to the conclusion that they will simply have to pretend that everything is as before. Ariane is only half-hearted about the idea, so the work is left to Alex, who goes as far as fabricating fake news broadcasts with his friend Denis so that his mother can remain in her illusion. It is only a matter of time, however, before the mother can get up from her sickbed, and then what?

Good Bye, Lenin! is not just a moving and bittersweet comedy. The film is also an apt commentary on developments after the fall of the Wall, when the East Germans had to pay with part of their identity and culture for unification with the wealthy West Germany.