Good Bye Lenin! : Coming to Terms with the Truth
Set in East Germany, Good Bye Lenin! is a semi-fictional film, directed by Wolfgang Becker, about characters embedded in the past and the present. Christiane Kerner's (Katrin Saß) husband betrays the Socialist Party in East Germany and flees to the West. Years pass by and Christiane becomes an ardent supporter of the Socialist Party. In 1989, she falls into a coma after witnessing her son, Alex (Daniel Brühl), being arrested in an anti-Berlin Wall demonstration. During her eight months in the coma a significant change has occurred, the fall of the Berlin Wall. Christiane's doctor warns Alex that if she finds out about the German reunification, the shock may cause her a heart-attack. From here on, Alex and his sister Arianne (Maria Simon) must do everything to keep the socialist state of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) alive for Christiane in the new, commodified, capitalist era. <?xml:namespace prefix = o />
This well-crafted tragic and comic film has much to offer in terms of cinematic elements. For example, the “mise en scène” brilliantly depicts the changing political situation in Germany. The past creates its own space in the semi-fictional world of Christiane’s room, where Alex restrains Christiane within her own walls much like when she was constrained spatially by the strict communist policies. The present exists in a capitalist world in which commodification exists at its height in global conglomerates like Burger King where Arianne works. She is confined in the drive-through window of Burger King, a symbol of the commodified world which some would say is also representative of a more corrupt and manipulative government. Unlike Arianne and Christiane, Alex moves freely through space, mediating between the two worlds. Alex is the commodifer of the uncommodified; in his attempt to keep his mother away from the truth he has to revive the GDR television programs and even fill newly exported pickles and jams in old East German jars. In each of these character's lives, political worlds reverberate in their spatial relations.
Good Bye Lenin! points to the correlation between the restrictive nature of space and political views, because political ideologies can only flourish if space allows it to do so. This metaphoric relationship concerns many aspects of Nepalese youth and the recent political changes. The abolishment of the Nepalese monarchy is analogous to overthrow of Lenin's policies. This similarity also points to the differing political views that will continue to exist in Nepal's transitional phase. Some still find it hard to believe that the two hundred and forty year rule of the monarchy has come to an end. The film also reminds us about the different influences of political changes on the masses.
The film also experiments with fairy tale-like aspects; for example Christiane, like Sleeping Beauty, wakes up from a long sleep (her coma). In light Christiane's experience in the film and the political breakthroughs in German history, one can take from this film that it may be necessary to wake up from our dreams and let go of our past. As viewers, the film allows us to understand the rigid boundaries created by our own Weltanschauung or worldview which in turn helps us realize that we may have to come in terms with our past, deal with present and create our own future.
Words: Jeanny Vaidya
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