filmbore pick of the week - Goodbye Lenin!

Goodbye Lenin!

Director: Wolfgang Becker
Screenplay: Bernd Lichtenberg, Wolfgang Becker
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova
Year: 2003
Language: German
UK rental release: September 2007

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How do you cope with change? Should we be mollycoddled from it? Will we just handle it and move on? Or will we rebel against these new strange ways? Is hiding the truth from others just hiding it from ourselves? These questions, and many more are put to test in Wolfgang Becker's excellent Goodbye Lenin!

As a boy, Alexander dreams of being an astronaut. As part of an East German family before the falling of the Berlin Wall, the wonder of space travel is a form of escapism. Early in his life, his Father started an affair with a West German mistress and eventually left them. This led his mother, Christiane (Katrin Saß, The House On The River), into a bout of depression. A dedicated teacher, she decided to devote herself further in her socialist ideals as an activist for the common people, helping those in need with the smaller things in life.

Ten years later, and Alex (Daniel Brühl, The Edukators, Inglourious Basterds) is now a TV repair man. He may have a whisper of his childhood dream in his eyes, but some of that drive no longer sits on the surface. During a protest against the oppression of the Berlin Wall, he meets a new love interest, Lara (Chulpan Khamatova, Luna Papa, Tuvalu) through an embarrassing circumstance. When they charge on the authorities, Alex has no idea that his mother is near. On seeing his involvement in the stand-off, Christiane collapses in the middle of the street from a heart attack, finally falling into a coma.

During Christiane's forced slumber, Germany begins an enormous transition, with major political figures retiring and further pushes from patriots to break down the Berlin Wall, eventually ending in its removal. Alex has to adjust to the westernisation of his homeland, which he revels in. It's at this time that he's re-united with Lara, who's a nurse at his mother's hospital - a new romance in a newly combined state; everything new and exciting.

Alex and his sister, Ariane (Maria Simon) have to take care of their mother when she finally wakes. Her condition is delicate and her mind is tainted with a little amnesia. Due to her fragile state and with her heart & soul still entwined with her socialist party pre-Wall, the shock of the recent changes to Germany in her absence could be dangerous to her health, even lethal. So, Alex does all he can to keep it all from her, going to great lengths to shield her from the evolution taking place right outside her window. He fashions food and drink using containers and jars pre-westernisation. He even puts videos of old TV programmes on, including ones created by himself and his friend, and convinces Christiane that's everything is happening live.

Alex's ultimate challenge though is to put together a birthday party for his mother without giving the game away. Even the guests to the event are in on the act! Deeper and deeper, Alex protects his mother from the truth that he feels could kill her. The lies get too much as he takes it too far and he is so resolute in his task he is eventually engulfed by it. But he's not the only person with a secret...

When setting a tale in such a hefty political moment in European history, it takes a deft hand to create the right feel and tone to bring a story to the screen tastefully while not too dramatically. When considering both pre-Wall paranoia & distrust and post-Wall euphoria & confusion, it's vital to remember that the falling of the Berlin Wall is a celebrated moment in Germany, even if such a drastic change impacts everyone so heavily. As an outsider to such a huge event, this film helped me to comprehend both of these experiences more fully, thanks to the gentle approach taken by Wolfgang Becker.

There is an important visual style to the film that allows Becker to create an identity. Colours play a particularly strong part at points in the movie: The red communist regalia cloaking the uprisings, draping rooms with a crimson glow during the state marches; multitudes of colours stepping in post-Wall representing the "multi-culturalisation" of Germany (pay attention to the poignancy of the fireworks shot near the end of the film, where red transition into a different colour).

One surprising tone however is the lightness that steps in once both East Germany (GDR) and West Germany (FRG) re-unite. Not just visually either, but in its mood too. The humour in the film begins with this new Germany, with surprising comedy slowly creeping in. Then, Alex's concern for his mother's health helps punctuates the humour with drama, bringing the film back down to reality. It's this gentle care that Becker has taken to the opposing feelings that really elevates the film. However, our director isn't too scared to allow drama and comedy to share the same screen once in a while.

The backbone to this smart structure is an elegantly written screenplay. Becker and Lichtenberg's script is solid throughout, even daring to drop in the odd Kubrick reference here and there (the 2001 one is discussed by our actors, but see if you can spot the parody of A Clockwork Oranges fast-forward sex scene). Yet, it's the voice over elements gifted to Daniel Brühl that really stand out. Influenced by Alex's childhood passion of space and science, these narratives are both absorbing and poetic, serving as an allegory for the cultural differences between past and future.

That takes to Daniel Brühl himself. You'll recognise from Inglourious Basterds, and soon see him take to the track as Niki Lauda in the biopic Rush, and this bigger, more international roles are totally deserving to such a skilled performer. In Goodbye Lenin!, Brühl is a strong lead, carrying the whole picture. Not wanting to deter from the rest of the cast, who are also strong, but his forthright actions as a character and his charismatic approach to the role are just what the story requires, allowing you to feel and view his tale from his unique perspective. The embodiment of experiencing a new country growing around him, while falling in love with his sole mate, all while trying to hide the changing world from his sick mother is a difficult one to grasp, but Daniel Brühl seems to portray this effortlessly, which for me is the final keystone to a solid and entertaining piece of German cinema.

Goodbye Lenin! plays itself as a poetic approach at dealing with change and the impact that such an important time in German history has on its patriots. A formidable script from the helmer and his colleague Lichtenberg shines through a film that, on paper, shouldn't be approachable when considering the sensitive time in which it is set. Yet, the glorious performance from Brühl as our lead and narrator combined with a tasteful balance between laughs and drama makes this film suitable for any audience member.

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