Auf wiedersehen, Lenin!
Tonight I finally had my long-anticipated chance to view Good Bye, Lenin! And I think it lived up to my expectations.
On one level, I thoroughly enjoyed simply from my perspective as a historian of East-Central Europe. That part of me found the socialist kitsch highly amusing.
But beyond that, I found the film to work really well on the level of story and character development.
Unlike Roger Ebert, who appears not to have actually seen the film, at least not in its entirety, I thought the story carried a well-developed poignancy. Maybe that's just because Ebert wants to have everything spelled out for him, instead of being left to interpret some things for himself. And maybe I'm just still harping on Ebert because his review seemed terribly misinformed when I read it before seeing the film.
But setting aside my Ebert-bashing for the moment, I really liked the way the idea of Ostalgie -- nostalgia for the East -- was depicted in this film. Primarily the Ostalgie is that of Alex, the doting son who goes to painstaking lengths to recreate East Berlin circa 1989 for his mother, who has emerged from an eight-month coma that began shortly before the Wall fell. What I like is how Alex's Ostalgie appears juxtaposed to his mother's idealistic attachment to the DDR. Although Alex enjoys the material and economic benefits of the West, you see through his devotion to this artificial DDR he constructs that he has a very real affection for the old. In part it's because the DDR will forever conjure up for Alex associations with his mother, and in part it's because the DDR is an inextricable part of his youth.
It's great, as well, to watch toward the end and see the appreciation and love Alex's mother has for him as she observes the affection of her son.
On one level, I thoroughly enjoyed simply from my perspective as a historian of East-Central Europe. That part of me found the socialist kitsch highly amusing.
But beyond that, I found the film to work really well on the level of story and character development.
Unlike Roger Ebert, who appears not to have actually seen the film, at least not in its entirety, I thought the story carried a well-developed poignancy. Maybe that's just because Ebert wants to have everything spelled out for him, instead of being left to interpret some things for himself. And maybe I'm just still harping on Ebert because his review seemed terribly misinformed when I read it before seeing the film.
But setting aside my Ebert-bashing for the moment, I really liked the way the idea of Ostalgie -- nostalgia for the East -- was depicted in this film. Primarily the Ostalgie is that of Alex, the doting son who goes to painstaking lengths to recreate East Berlin circa 1989 for his mother, who has emerged from an eight-month coma that began shortly before the Wall fell. What I like is how Alex's Ostalgie appears juxtaposed to his mother's idealistic attachment to the DDR. Although Alex enjoys the material and economic benefits of the West, you see through his devotion to this artificial DDR he constructs that he has a very real affection for the old. In part it's because the DDR will forever conjure up for Alex associations with his mother, and in part it's because the DDR is an inextricable part of his youth.
It's great, as well, to watch toward the end and see the appreciation and love Alex's mother has for him as she observes the affection of her son.
posted by Alexander Dubcek | 20:01
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