"Goodbye Lenin": A son "resurrects" a country for his mother

The film "Goodbye Lenin" directed by German director Wolfgang Beck is an excellent work set in the historical context of German reunification. With a novel perspective to show people's feelings about the lost era, reminisce about history and show the love of young Alex for his mother. Although the content of the story has a strong political color, the film gets rid of strong ideological expression, uses the story of an ordinary family to cut in, and tells the story of a warm family under social changes through the humanized narrative of sadness and joy, and the relaxed and humorous plot arrangement.

The young Alex of East Germany grew up under the socialist system, and his mother Christina was a state cadre, never doubted the superiority of the state system, and actively implemented the policies of the government, and was commended by the state many times for her achievements in work. However, Christina's husband fled to West Germany, where she led her young Alex and her sister to live as a celibacy. In 1989, some eastern Europe underwent great changes, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the reunification of germany. Christina also lost her memory from an unexpected car accident.

Following the doctor's instructions, Alex could not let his mother be subjected to any emotional stimuli, otherwise her condition would worsen. By this time the whole country had undergone earth-shaking changes, and people's lives were fully integrated into the capitalist West German way of life, which was still the enemy.

My mother was a tried-and-tested party member, so as not to let her hear about the changes around her. Despite his sister's family's objections, Alex took his mother from the hospital to his home, of course, he and his friends had previously transformed the 79-square-meter home into the pattern before the great change. Considering that patients would watch TV to relieve their boredom, Alex even colluded with friends to elaborately design and produce news of the former East German state television, and no matter what new situation happened today, they could explain it with their original thinking.

In this way, Christina thought that she was living under the original East German system, because Alex even paid children to sing the former Young Pioneer songs at their mother's bedside to celebrate their birthday. The film truly and highly condensedly shows people's living conditions and attitudes under the change of social system. For example, Christina's life's savings for the country have become a pile of waste paper because she missed the exchange deadline; the 1990 Football World Cup, the unification of Germany's world cup championship has played a huge role in enhancing national cohesion. The common people of East Germany seemed to accept the new life without difficulty and adapted quickly, except for cadres like Christina who insisted on their faith.

In fact, she may not feel the signs of the country's drastic changes, before the car accident can already see the march to the Berlin Wall, she actually has selective amnesia, because she can not accept the reality in front of her, only to close her own heart. As an active young man, Alex did not receive a national education in East Germany as a child, but on the day of the upheaval he walked in the parade. That is to say, Alex was receptive to the incorporation of East Germany into West Germany, and the reason why he tried to create the atmosphere of the past at home was entirely out of love for his mother.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, and the illusion created by Alex will eventually be exposed one day, first his sister is dissatisfied with her, then his girlfriend begins to have opinions, and most importantly, he cannot prevent his mother, who is getting better a little, from coming out of the room and making contact with the outside world. Christina's sight of a helicopter hoisting a bronze statue of Lenin is the most striking part of the film: anyone who has had memories of life in China in the seventies and eighties should know what Lenin meant in a socialist country at that time.

Christina collapsed unbearably, and in order to reassure her dying mother to leave, Alex even found her father, who had been in West Germany for many years and reorganized the family, and came to the hospital to see her mother for the last time. The film does not analyze too much about the rights and wrongs of the two social systems, but focuses on the love of a son for his mother, and Alex does his best to change history in order for his mother to restore his health. The efforts of ordinary people may be insignificant, but we can still feel the warmth conveyed from it.

It is also a film full of laughter, showing the audience the image of a witty and filial son. Through his eloquent narration, the audience transcends ideological storytelling, making a heavy history lighthearted and humorous. At the same time, it also expresses the son's love for his mother from a new perspective.

Alex's generation of young people, not nostalgic for the old times, but out of respect for the mother's faith, he knows the hardships and pains of the previous generation, and hopes to make the mother happy as much as possible, and leave no regrets in his lifetime.