Saint-Just
28th August 2003, 12:51
This shouldn’t necessarily go in Politics. However, when elijahcraig made a post on Frida in chit-chat it quickly turned into a Stalin debate.
Anyway, I’ll would never say ‘Goodbye Lenin’. What I am talking about here is the film which recently came out in my country – Great Britain. It is actually a German film and as such I should not imagine it will be widely available in the U.S.
So, who has seen it and what did they think?
If you are not sure about seeing it reading this may be interesting. I will keep my account brief and slightly uninteresting as to give away as little of the plot as possible.
This film is about a family living in the German Democratic Republic (DDR) right before and after the Berlin Wall fell. Before it falls the film gives a small view of what it was like to live in the DDR using a old footage from the country on occasion.
The film concerns the son of a communist mother, who after his mother awakes from a coma after the wall has fallen, trying to not reveal that the wall has fell and that they still live in the DDR that she loved so much.
The film is partly comedy and partly drama. It is undeniably funny but at the same time fairly serious.
Since it is a western film you may imagine it would be very much anti-communist. But in summation I found it to be baring on pro-communist despite a few humerous jabs it made on socialism.
My primary reason for it being pro-communist is that one of the main character’s, the mother, to any western viewer is a pleasant and humane character that many could do some to identify with. This being so, she also has a great passion for socialism and her country, the DDR. It seems to put a common, human face on socialism often made out to be ruthless and oppressive by the western media. In addition to this at some points in the film socialist ideology and the aims of socialism are referred to in a positive way.
It also attacks capitalism, for example, the daughter of the socialist mother who has to drop out of college where she studied economic theory to work at Burger King. Or the DDR teacher who is no longer wanted in the new Germany and turns to alcoholism.
The film also does extremely well to glorify the achievements of the Soviet space program.
Socialism and the DDR seemed to inspire much into these people. Not just the mother who at the start of the film is rehabilited from the tragic loss of her husband within only 8 weeks to become a model socialist citizen. But also the son, who despite being in a protest against the DDR right before the wall fell comes to constantly refer to the DDR as: ‘Our socialist fatherland’ and another line that I won’t give away since it compromises the plot.
Overall I thought it was an excellent film and worth seeing for everyone.
Anyway, I’ll would never say ‘Goodbye Lenin’. What I am talking about here is the film which recently came out in my country – Great Britain. It is actually a German film and as such I should not imagine it will be widely available in the U.S.
So, who has seen it and what did they think?
If you are not sure about seeing it reading this may be interesting. I will keep my account brief and slightly uninteresting as to give away as little of the plot as possible.
This film is about a family living in the German Democratic Republic (DDR) right before and after the Berlin Wall fell. Before it falls the film gives a small view of what it was like to live in the DDR using a old footage from the country on occasion.
The film concerns the son of a communist mother, who after his mother awakes from a coma after the wall has fallen, trying to not reveal that the wall has fell and that they still live in the DDR that she loved so much.
The film is partly comedy and partly drama. It is undeniably funny but at the same time fairly serious.
Since it is a western film you may imagine it would be very much anti-communist. But in summation I found it to be baring on pro-communist despite a few humerous jabs it made on socialism.
My primary reason for it being pro-communist is that one of the main character’s, the mother, to any western viewer is a pleasant and humane character that many could do some to identify with. This being so, she also has a great passion for socialism and her country, the DDR. It seems to put a common, human face on socialism often made out to be ruthless and oppressive by the western media. In addition to this at some points in the film socialist ideology and the aims of socialism are referred to in a positive way.
It also attacks capitalism, for example, the daughter of the socialist mother who has to drop out of college where she studied economic theory to work at Burger King. Or the DDR teacher who is no longer wanted in the new Germany and turns to alcoholism.
The film also does extremely well to glorify the achievements of the Soviet space program.
Socialism and the DDR seemed to inspire much into these people. Not just the mother who at the start of the film is rehabilited from the tragic loss of her husband within only 8 weeks to become a model socialist citizen. But also the son, who despite being in a protest against the DDR right before the wall fell comes to constantly refer to the DDR as: ‘Our socialist fatherland’ and another line that I won’t give away since it compromises the plot.
Overall I thought it was an excellent film and worth seeing for everyone.