Goodbye, Lenin. . . . . .
Although the name of the movie is "Goodbye, Lenin", it has nothing to do with Lenin. At most, it is the socialism and Lenin statue represented by Lenin. During the eight months when his mother was in a coma, the regional defenses of East Germany were finally captured by the advanced weapons of the capitalist countries represented by West Germany. The psychological defense of the East Germans was eventually penetrated by the advanced material and spiritual weapons of capitalism. When the Coca-Cola logo was hung on the roof, when my sister married a West German, when the statue of Lenin, symbolizing the spiritual barrier of socialism, was hoisted by a roaring helicopter and flew over the head of the shocked mother. This is the end of an era, and this is also the beginning of a new era.
In an instant, the people of East Germany will accept the values and lifestyles from West Germany and from capitalism. This is an internal self-subversion. The film here does not directly portray the resistance of the East German people to such a sudden change. Instead, it uses real historical image data to show people the changes in the watershed of the great change, some bit by bit, some with a bang.
It is not so much goodbye—Lenin, as goodbye—past faith. The film is placed in the background of a family unit. You can't see it but you can feel the excitement of the people facing that historical port. The Berlin Wall was finally demolished, and the barrier between East and West Germany gradually disappeared. When Alex went to West Germany no longer had to check his identity and accepted the capitalist lifestyle, it had nothing to do with certain beliefs. Loss, this is just an inevitable change and replacement of a certain belief.
Mother is a person who has strong feelings for socialism. In fact, it is not so much that her mother loves the beliefs of that era, but rather the self-interpretation that her mother seeks due to lack of positioning in that social background. At the end of the film, the mother’s secret that has been kept for more than ten years shows that the mother is self-forced to realize a kind of belonging to her own value. The departure of her husband made this sense of belonging even stronger.
In the days when East Germany was just merged, Alex also lost his sense of belonging. He was unemployed and re-employed. He also saw pornographic movies from capitalism that made him slap his tongue in a West German commissary. But he quickly adapted to this social structure and values. But the mother did not, so Alex, the protagonist with the childish and nostalgic temperament of the German started a white lie.
Goodbye, utopia. . . . . .
This is a film that uses the family as a background to see through the great changes in the history of East and West Germany. The film's neutral teasing of the great changes in history and the lives of little people under such great changes. The proposition of lies runs through the movie. From the lies that Alex told his mother to the lies that his mother had buried for more than ten years against Alex's brother and sister. Using lies as bricks and tiles, the director built a utopia between East Germany and West Germany for us in the film.
Because this is not a political film, he doesn't have any political language to impose on the audience, and don't tarnish it with too much stance or so-called political colors. From a neutral perspective, the film ridicules, helplessly and tenderly pulls you into a utopia that the director temporarily assumes, in this utopia, it gives people the power to imagine and copy. Alex used a childish and absurd way to freeze time in the Utopia on the eve of the German merger.
This utopia is a society with the material civilization of West Germany and the spiritual civilization of East Germany. People retain their original spiritual lifestyle, such as young pioneers singing to retired party members and gatherings of old cadres. We have to admire the director's imagination, this hypothetical society is slightly exaggerated by comics. In this society, socialism finally defeated capitalism, Lenin's tremendous spiritual power influenced Coca-Cola, and East Germany reversely infiltrated people from West Germany who had been "poisoned by capitalism." . . . . . .
In this utopia, people have been given unlimited copying power, from pickles that were only produced in the former East Germany, to the red scarves for singing that were recruited for 20 yuan, to the colorful flowers worn by people outside and the old ones at home. The family of clothes, from former East German astronauts with misplaced roles, to TV shows that have been copied infinitely funny. Praising the talented show producer and newscaster, when he explained the reason why he was dragged away by government guards from a new perspective, everyone in the cinema was already laughing. There is nothing in this ideal country that cannot be copied, but what cannot be copied is the meaning of the secrets that the mother has kept for more than ten years, and the changes in the social nature of the true background of this utopia.
The deceased was like a husband. When his mother’s ashes bloomed with fireworks under the sky that no longer exists in East Germany or West Germany, Alex sighed deeply. He has accompanied his mother to complete a social change background. The search for a sense of belonging is now over, and he can plunge into the lens of real life. So this is the beginning of real life. Goodbye is Utopia, the beginning of a new life.
Another thing to mention is the soundtrack of this movie. The soundtrack master Yann Tiersen from France used the aura of accordion and triangle bell to outline the love of the movie. You can't hear the coldness, only the warmth.
Goodbye, Lenin; goodbye, utopia; embrace a new life.
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