Score : 8/10
Year :
2003
Country:
Germany
Language:
German. Some Russian & English.
Duration:
2h01 (imdb) ; 1h47 (french dvd)
East
Germany. October 1989. Alex protests against the regime. This is a crossroad
for him and his family : he meets Lara, but is also arrested by the police. His
mother, Mutter, sees his arrests, suffers a heart attack and falls into a
coma.
When she
awakes, 8 months later, Alex tries his best to conceal all the sociopolitical
changes that happened during this time, to avoid her any further
distress.
The
acting in this movie is quite good, and the narration helps in understanding
most of the contexts behind those changes if 1989-1990, as I'm not familiar
enough with this point in the history of the German reunification.
I like
that the movie sets very relatable characters by showing Alex's
family when they grew up, as well as Mutter's personality and dedication - from
about 1978, building the backstory in the first few minutes of the movie,
before starting the main plot at 1989. There are therefore no flashbacks, which
was a great choice, in my opinion.
The casting is quite good, family members do look related, and I like that the people look like people, and not gloss-glamoured like in Hollywood. It makes these characters even more relatable.
The movie
includes stock footage, and as I said above, narration, to explain the historic
events as they took place, and as a background information of why Alex is so
obsessed in protecting his mother, and why he accepts to jeopardise other aspects of his life in this process.
Good bye
Lenin is a cross-genre of romance, comedy, but mostly drama,
where many moments become quite comical in the moving efforts that Alex,
aided by his best friend and others in his entourage, to protect Mutter from
any unnecessary emotional outburst that could be fatal.
Of note,
there are a few rated-R scenes that last only a few seconds each, pertaining to
nudity and sex-language, but nothing in this movie is graphic in itself,
despite the arrest scene.
Also,
just after it happens, I must warn others who like me are emetophobic,
don't watch the few seconds when the main character may trigger you. This is
just after his arrest and you'll know when it comes. I just avoided by putting
my hand between me & the screen for those few seconds.
Good bye Lenin entertained and was better than I'd expected it to be, in view of the story. It is quite touching how Alex goes through so much, out of love for his mother who taught him all his values, and has comical relief moments in this drama.
Cast :
· Daniel Brühl as Alexander "Alex" Kerner
· Nico Ledermüller as 11-year-old Alex
· Katrin Saß as Christiane Kerner
· Chulpan Khamatova as Lara
· Maria Simon as Ariane Kerner
· Florian Lukas as Denis Domaschke
et al.
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