Michael Giberson
Haven?t made plans for German Unity Day (October 3) yet? I recommend a viewing of ?Good Bye, Lenin!? – funny, humane look at the reunification of Germany from the perspectives of an East Berlin family. Erica Abeel, Film Journal International, said, “The film’s take on filial love is fresh and affecting. Its political savvy yields sharp insights.” (Via film review site Rotten Tomatoes.)
From the Sony Pictures Classics website:
October, 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany ? and this is precisely what happens to Alex?s proudly socialist mother. Alex has a big problem on his hands when she suddenly awakens eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her. And what could be more shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of capitalism in her beloved East Germany? To save his mother, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist-era museum where his mother is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed.
The movie is available in capitalistic plentitude, for a price, not only from your neighborhood video rental store, but from many other competitive sources as well.
Great movie and great soundtrack too!