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Review

It is 1989 and the Berlin Wall has fallen. Everyone knows this. Well, everyone except staunch Party supporter Christiane Kerner (Sass). In the days before the Wall collapsed she suffered a heart attack and slipped into a coma. Several months later she wakes up and the world has changed dramatically. But doctors warn her two children, Ariane (Simon) and Alexander (Brühl), that it is imperative to keep her free from stressful news and situations. Immediately Alex worries that the one thing that could prove most devastating to his mother is that the country she knew has completely disappeared. So Alex, along with the uncertain assistance of his family, friends and acquaintances, sets out to recreate an East Germany that no longer exists.

This highly engaging and witty film is a fascinating look at an eventful period in German history. Cleverly riffing on the human penchant for nostalgia, the subjectivity of news reporting, and the thin line separating fiction from reality, Good Bye, Lenin! simultaneously ridicules and honors those that would prefer their world unchanged. Director Becker mines the rich territory of fabrication to create a number of brilliant set pieces. Alex Kerner shoots fake news footage with his aspiring filmmaker pal Denis (a subtly hilarious Lukas), is forever on the lookout for a discontinued brand of pickles, and attempts to celebrate the (now) non-existent 40th birthday of the GDR.

The performances by both Daniel Brühl and Maria Simon (Alex and his sister Ariane) are outstanding, but it is the minor characters that truly shine: Alexander Beyer is wonderful as Ariane’s sweet, yet dopey, boyfriend Rainer, and both Michael Gwisdek and Franziska Troegner are fantastic as members of the older generation left completely adrift following reunification.

Occasionally overly-sentimental, Good Bye, Lenin! is nevertheless a lovely coming-of-age tale, a story about a son’s love for his mother, and a delightful spin on the power of storytelling.