Good Bye, Lenin!

When the Wall came tumbling down…

What would you do if massive changes had occurred whilst your mother was in a coma and you were scared that if she knew, it would kill her?

	Alex is arrested during an anti-government demonstration.

East Berliner, Christiane Kerner, was a staunch supporter of the communist DDR government when, in October 1989, she witnessed the East German Police arresting her son Alex during an anti-government demonstration. The shock was too much. She suffered a massive heart attack and fell into a coma. The distraught Alex devotedly nursed his comatose mother in their apartment while dramatic and far-reaching political changes took place in the outside world during the eight months she was unconscious. The Berlin Wall was knocked down and capitalism replaced socialism.

When Christiane eventually regained consciousness Alex realised that he must keep the truth from her. If she learned that her beloved Lenin had been so ruthlessly debunked, the shock would surely kill her. To protect his mother, Alex launches a tortuous scheme, involving increasing numbers of family and neighbours, to convince her that nothing has changed!

The film’s Director, Wolfgang Becker, co-wrote the black comedy, Good Bye, Lenin!, with Bernd Lichtenberg. Neither man could possibly have foreseen its remarkable impact!

It won The Blue Angel prize as the best European film at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. It also won the Best German Film Prize in June, the Best Film Award in Belgrade and audiences received it rapturously at CamerImage.