I watched this in my German Cinema class, and I very much enjoyed it. The cast members were all well-suited to their roles, the plot was engaging, and the film editing was beautiful. Good Bye Lenin! is a tragicomedy which takes place mostly in East Berlin in 1989 and 1990. It opens with Sigmund Jähn's flight into space, and the subsequent televised "wedding" of the German and Soviet children's television characters Sandmann and Mascha. Through the entire film, space is a recurring theme. As a child, Alex shoots a rocket "into space as the second German in space." As Christiane lies comatose in the hospital, Alex compares her to a satellite circling around "our small planet and our still smaller republic." Alex, an East German, also meets and falls in love with a Russian nurse named Lara. This may be a parallel for Sandmann and Mascha. After the fall of the wall, Alex gets a job where he installs TV satellite dishes with Denis. In East Germany, space was for science; after the wall came down, Alex sells space for consumption and entertainment. Other references to space: Denis shows Alex his home film service ad, based on 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Interestingly, Good Bye Lenin! was finished in the year 2001, but only available beginning in 2003.) When Christiane has her second heart attack, Alex meets Sigmund Jähn in person, but he is a simple Taxi driver. In the GDR that Alex creates for his mother, Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space, becomes the chancellor. He and his work are symbols for the best of the GDR—what, in Alex's mind, it could and should have been. The ideals of freedom, unity, and hope of a better society marked by fairness, peace, and advancement find embodiment in Sigmund Jähn and his trip to space. Goodbye Lenin! offers plenty of humorous moments, despite its tragic aspects. A lot of the humor is cultural, and makes sense only if the viewer has some understanding of East/West German history and culture. Still, I would recommend this movie to English speakers and German speakers alike.

I enjoyed this movie. Alex's sarcasm allows for lots of comedic relief in an otherwise sad movie. This raises an interesting question: is this film a comedy or a tragedy? Although the demise of the mother and the element of their broken family is sad, I still think of this movie as more of a comedy. It's more of a comedy to me because the overall tone is not particularly depressing. Alex's sarcasm creates a more humorous tone. Additionally, this kind of plan would never be possible, even back in 1990. There is simply no way that this could realistically be carried out, which explains why Christiane had an inkling of the truth before anyone told her. The film causes one to think about how they would act in Alex's place. Is it better to lie and protect your mother, or tell the truth to maintain trust (and not have to pull off such an elaborate plan)? I think most would choose the latter.

I couldn't say enough good things about this movie. I want to recommend it to anyone with eyes and ears. It has been on my movie list for a few years and I finally watched it. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. The story is original, the acting is excellent. It was funny, emotional, touching and interesting. The relationships between the characters are so complex and real. The plot may be a little far-fetched but it was compelling and I was there for the whole ride.This movie is really about the bonds between family and friends, which I think make the best movies, set during the restless period during the end of the cold war.I know I haven't told you about the actual plot but just read the summary and dive in. It is wunderbar.

The film Goodbye Lenin is a comedy, produced in West-Germany, just after the collapse of the Leninist state in East-Germany. Not surprisingly, the makers exhibit a lot of enjoyment of the failing state. However, they abstain from a too overt and harsh criticism, because obviously this would alienate and offend the East-Germans too much. Therefore the makers have chosen to depict a society with senile leaders and a naive and mis-guided but friendly people. Apparently they want to further the detachment of the East-Germans from their recent history and past, which after all spans a period of forty years. As such the film and its story are sentimental and nostalgic. by the way, often the word "ostalgy" is used as a pun on the word east, so be ware (!). But make no mistake: in essence it is a vicious and one-sided attack on the former workers' and farmers' state. Its high quality of social and existential security is ignored or ridiculed. It does not say what it says. The recurring covert message is that the forty years are an illusion, in a word, a fata morgana. The old folks with feelings of homesickness are portrayed as confused drunkards. They seem to be at bay. In fact the main characters are a disrupted family, where the husband defects to the west, while the woman is intimidated into staying behind or at home. Be ware that this is by no means a typical situation. Actually in the seventies and eighties on a yearly basis a meager 15.000 citizens (0.1%) left their state. Amazing, isn't it? So instead, if you prefer a more realistic picture, I recommend the East-German produce "Die Architekten". This story is definitely more solid and trust worthy (subtitles are missing). By now you probably suspect, that the whole conception of Goodbye Lenin annoys me. Guilty, but please read on, and discover more interesting hints! For I admit, that the film contains some nice and amazing fragments. For instance, when the gigantic statue of Lenin (some 15 meters high!) is replaced by an enormous banner of Coca Cola. Do I taste a trace of nationalism here?. Or when a fake TV reportage suggests, that masses of WEST-Germans try to ENTER East-Berlin through the shattered wall. Is this a parable for the by then flood of West-German products? Or when the East-German furniture is discarded and replaced by Ikea stuff, and subsequently it comes out that lots of bank-notes were hidden in the original pieces. Can furniture be a subversive idea? Yes, it IS an amazing comedy. Also there is plenty of footage about Berlin and its everyday life. Still, also in this area I prefer original material, for instance the East-German TV series "Einzug ins Paradies" (entrance into paradise, but alas! without subtitles). Or consider the film "Spur der Steine" (rolling stones), which provides satisfactory subtitles. Although they are both inside jobs, and be ware slightly beatifying, they also supply an amazing criticism, while depicting the REAL social relations, with all their nuances and pros and cons and what do I know. They do not take you in.