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About the Movie
Winner of six prestigious European Film Awards, including Best Picture and 2004 Golden Globe® nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this coming-of-age adventure blends the fall of Communism with the salient emotions of a family's love. "Destined to become one of Germany's biggest international hits," (BBC Films), Good Bye, Lenin! is a beautiful introduction to a whole new, free world. In 1989, Christiane Kerner has lost her husband and is completely devoted to the Socialist East German state. A heart attack leaves her in a coma, and when she awakens eight months later, the Berlin Wall has fallen and it's a whole new world. To protect her from the shock, her son Alex hatches a plan to keep her in the dark. It's easy... all he has to do is turn back the handle of time.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
90%- Reviews Counted: 107
- Fresh: 96
- Rotten: 11
- Average Rating: 7.4/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: Like the East German pickles Alex finds for his mother, it's a tasty but evasive treat, no matter what your taste in politics or movies.
Fresh: Deliciously offbeat comedy, as wildly inventive as anything Billy Wilder ever conceived.
Fresh: Good Bye, Lenin! beautifully mixes comedy, sentimentality, and cynicism.
Fresh: Beneath the family saga and easy digs at the tackiness of Western consumer culture, Becker presents a serious critique of authoritarianism and propaganda.
Customer Reviews
Good Bye Lenin
The title may make you think this is a Movie about Lenin, but it is actually playing in 1989, when Communism changed and the Wall fell, when People freed themselves , about a Woman that has lost her Husband and had a Heart Attack when Politics turned around. As she awakes, her Son tries everything to make his Mother believe that nothing has changed. Awesome Story, good Actors……Thumbs up!
Love expressed as preserving another's delusion
If you liked Lars and the Real Girl, this is for you. Even better if you want some geo-politics thrown in as a backdrop.
Little hidden German Gem.
I stumbled across this movie while looking for a foreign comedy. Glad I found this gem of a film. It has both drama and comedy and it doesn't grow stale in either department. I liked it so much, I bought it afterwards. If you're not scared of subtitles and opening up to films that could come from somewhere other than Hollywood, give this one a chance.
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- $12.99
- Genre: Foreign
- Released: 2003
- © Motion Picture & English Subtitles: 2003 X Filme Creative Pool GmbH. All Rights Reserved.
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