Product Details

• Actors: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova, Florian Lukas, Maria Simon
• Directors: Wolfgang Becker
• Writers: Wolfgang Becker, Achim von Borries, Bernd Lichtenberg, Christoph Silber, Hendrik Handloegten
• Producers: Andreas Schreitmüller, Katja De Bock
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: August 10, 2004
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000274THQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,432 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Good Bye, Lenin! (Special Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Contemporary comedies rarely stretch themselves beyond a bickering romantic couple or a bickering couple and a bucket of bodily fluids, which makes the ambition and intelligence of Good bye, Lenin! not simply entertaining but downright refreshing. The movie starts in East Germany before the fall of communism; our hero, Alex (Daniel Bruhl), describes how his mother (Katrin Sass), a true believer in the communist cause, has a heart attack when she sees him being clubbed by police at a protest. She falls into a coma for eight months--during which the Berlin Wall comes down. When she awakens, her fragile health must avoid any shocks, so Alex creates an illusive reality around his bedridden mother to convince her that communism is still alive. Good bye, Lenin! delicately balances wry satire with its rich investment in the lives of Alex, his mother, and other characters around them. Funny, moving, and highly recommended. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

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 becom

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars HEARTWARMING WHAT-IF TALE OF COMING TO TERMS September 16, 2004

By Shashank Tripathi VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Goodbye Lenin takes a sliver of recent history (reunification of Germany) and weaves it into a tender, bittersweet tale of farce and romance. Presenting a world that no longer exists is hard enough, but making it convincing to the viewer with gentle hints of humour requires a stroke of genius.

We may not know of the precise nostalgia felt by East Germans when the products they grew up with were replaced by spiffy modern imports from adjoining nations. But these moments are so beautifully handled, and the son's alternative approaches so cutely frantic, that we cannot avoid relating to similar emotions from our own contexts.

The film goes on for a bit in the middle with goofy antics and knowing jokes, but it is richly textured in its nods towards other directors like Fellini and Kubrick.

Don't let subtitles put you off from seeing this heart-breaking yet oddly comforting film. One of the best movies I've seen in 2004!

53 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Film of 2004! October 9, 2004

By Nicholas Carroll

Format:DVD

Finally, a film that satisfied a lifelong curiosity I've had for people my age who lived on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Since elementary school, I always wondered what it was like for kids like me who were unfortunate to be born in the Soviet Union or East Germany, two of the harshest communist states. This curiosity led to my checking out books on the topic and reading about it, and being called a "commie" by my fellow Americans, as if curiosity about someone our government tells us is "our enemy" makes me one of them!

I was thrilled when I read a movie like this had come out, showing life in the last days of East Germany and the euphoria of a new world opening up for people who pretty much lived in a prison all their lives. Of course, the initial rush of euphoria in newfound freedom left a harsh wake up call as differences in work ethics, standards of living, and cultural references became more and more apparent after reunification of the two Germanys. In personal terms, think of what it would be like if separated twins discovered each other late in life...one a Wall Street stockbroker, the other a trailer park living low wage slave. A clash in more ways than one, right?

The performances of Daniel Bruhl as the idealistic son and of Katrin Sass as the mother who always believed in Marxism, both performances really stand out and are Oscar-worthy. The lengths the son goes to, to prevent his mother from falling into another coma over the shock of the demise of East Germany provides much of the humor. My favorite scene is when the mother, tired of being cooped up in the bedroom, decides to go for a walk outside and its like walking through Wonderland for her. The look of complete bafflement on her face as she watches a statue of Lenin fly through the air, in a salutatory departure, is pure joy to watch. Just her look alone perfectly conveys the confusion of a world being turned upside down.

This film addresses the issue of "Ostalgie" that has gripped some former East Germans in the late 1990s as they have found that the materialism of the West hasn't replaced a sense of community for them. Under the iron fisted rule of Honecker, they might not have had much, but they suffered together and had a genuine sense of community...although any one of their neighbors could have turned them in to the state for any number of "violations." Watching this film, one can see the draw of culture on a person and the void left behind when the culture is stripped away or proven false. Does longing for the familiar products of one's youth actually mean a desire to return to the way things were? I don't think so...but culture is something we'll always carry with us. It's who we are.

The brilliance of this film for me, is that we get to look at East Germans as people with no control over their form of government. In America, we were taught that the Russians and Eastern Europeans were our "enemies" and a lot of people bought into it. But in reality, they are people just like us. People who believe their government over a foreign government they're not familiar with. Are we any different? I like that this film shows an idealistic young East German and his yearning for freedom, idolizing a Cosmonaut, and who loves his mother so much that he dares not tell her the truth about what happened to their country since she fell into and out of a coma. This deception strains his relations with his sister, but provides much humorous situations before reaching a satisfying conclusion. I have no complaints about this film. It's flawless and brilliant. The acting and humor are first rate and Oscar-worthy. I would rate "Goodbye Lenin!" as the best film I've seen so far in 2004.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Germans do have a sense of humor!!! March 19, 2004

By Melanie

I am originally from East Germany. I lived there in 1989. I saw the demonstrations happen in my hometown (not Berlin), I felt the tension, but also the excitement and insecurity of the days following the fall of the wall.

I watched the movie last year in Germany, watched in in December again when it was released on DVD in Germany and am planning to show it to my students in a politics class. That is how much I love this movie. I love it because he shows something very simple ... the things a person wants to go through for the love of his mother. But also because it quite adequately portrays the time of 1989 and 1990. It shows how excited people became if they already got their car after waiting "only 3 years" when it was normal to wait 10+ years. It shows also how proud East Germans were about some of their achievements, how attached they were to the system and I know how hard it was and still is for some to deal with the demise of the GDR. It gives a bit of an insight in the problems and ways of thinking from that time.

The movie is fascinating on many levels and entertaining and humorous on so many others. Katrin Sass, an actress from East Germany, and Daniel Bruehl who plays her son, make a great cast for the movie. Katrin Sass, because she can portray the die-heart communist with such credibility, not overdone nor distorted, and Daniel Bruehl because he plays this young man so well. The movie comes with high recommendation from me.