Comments on 'Goodbye Lenin!'

'Goodbye Lenin!' tells the story of how a major political change can affect individuals and families. In this case, how it affects teenager Alexander, his mother, Christiane, and sister, Ariane.

The filmmaker manages to capture the emotion and circumstances that can have an impact on personal life brilliantly, from political issues to having a teenage crush (as displayed by Alex and his passion for Lara, a nurse). This is also applied through the major political changes going at the time: the protests towards the East German border and the rising stance of capitalism. The doctors tell Alex that any inch of excitement could cause his mother to have another heart attack (she had been in a coma for eight months) and put her life in danger. The valiant efforts that Alex goes through are shown with such precision and desperation that he has to capture the events of the past in an almost armature fashion, but this looks extremely professional.

Another factor I enjoyed about this film was the transition between shots of real historical events, clearly shown by a lower screening quality to the current film shots. This helps us to identify the differences. The same goes for the home movie footage, displayed at the start of the film.