Arts

Film: Good Bye, Lenin!

It's too long, and I'm not sure it deserves Empire's **** review, but Good Bye, Lenin! is an interesting film that's well worth watching if you don't mind a few rough corners.

Waking from a coma during which the Berlin Wall fell, Alex's mother is at risk of a fatal heart attack if she is excited. For the sake of her health, Alex hides the revolution from his mother, re-creating the DDR in her flat.

Rather than dwelling on the emotional significance of reunification, the film provides an alternate angle on November 1989. Through the net curtains of East Berlin, it peeks out a world that's changing at an alarming pace: favourite produce is no longer available, commercial enterprise is everywhere. A sense of fear of the unknown is presented, perhaps for the first time for western audiences.