Good Bye Lenin

“Good Bye Lenin” tells the story about a son named Alex trying to save his mother’s life by telling lies. His mother, a dedicated party activist, has a heart attack when she witnesses his son in the middle of a parade against the government. She falls into coma and stays unconscious for eight moths. Lots of things have taken place when she is in bed. Germany welcomes its reunification and her beloved East Germany is gone forever. Her sudden awake one morning brings Alex great pleasure, but this is also the starting point of a new problem. His mother’s doctor tells him that the shock of East Germany’s downfall may bring her a fatal heart attack this time. Alex has to build up an “East Germany” for his mother, and keep her away from the outside world. The process is hard, but, in return, his mother spends “rest of her life” in peace.

It is quite ironic that Alex is one of those people who push down the Berlin Wall, but he has to keep on telling lies that East Germany still exists. It’s a problem like whether to tell a patient that he is dying, and it’s hard to tell right or wrong. More ironically, they later find out both sides are actually living in lies, because Alex’s mother is lying about his father for years. Anyway, I believe there are good lies. When Alex’s mother finally finds out the truth, she doesn’t panic, and she even pretends to listen to the false news that Alex makes for her, because she knows there is someone in the world that loves her so much.

When watching the movie, I feel there is a kind of link with my life, because I am also very familiar with the term “Lenin”. China is by definition socialism. We are taught about Lenin in primary schools. However, this term has faded out of our lives for years, because the media never mentions this name again and none of his pictures can be found today. Interestingly, we even don’t know when this is happening. The movie is like a hint to me. Unlike Germany, we are also saying good bye to Lenin, only in a different way…