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Goodbye Lenin!
[cert 15, 121 mins]
October 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if
you lived in East Germany - and this is precisely
what happens to Alex's mother, an activist for
social progress and the improvement of everyday
life in socialist East Germany. Alex has a big
problem on his hands when she suddenly awakens
eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any
shock might kill her. And what could be more
shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
triumph of capitalism in her beloved country? To
save his mother, Alex transforms the family
apartment into an island of the past, a kind of
socialist museum where his mother is lovingly
duped into believing that nothing has changed.
What begins as a little white lie gets more and more
out of hand as Alex's mother, who feels better
every day, wants to watch TV and even leaves her
bed one day...
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Starring: Alexander Beyer, Daniel Bruehl, Michael Gwisdek
Level: AS, A2, GCSE
Subjects: Film Studies, German, History, Media Studies
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