Movie Analysis: Good Bye Lenin
Movie Analysis: Good Bye Lenin
Daniel Brühl (Alex) recalls how proud he was with his fellow citizens when the first German to enter space came from East Germany. The rest of the movie is set in East Berlin before the reunification of German. German citizens experienced a wide range of challenges during the unification of Germany. The challenges included social, economic and political challenges as evidenced by the main character Alex (Cooke p1-256).
The father fled to West Germany as the Party oppressed him (Youtube.com 2012). Alex’s mother is not able to join the father as East government would take the children. This forces him to stay in East Germany. The family reunites as the father moves to East Germany after the unification of Germany (Gerstenberger p1-206).
The changes after the unification of East and West Germany have a negative effect on Alex’s mother. The doctor claims that exposing Alex’s mother to shock will cause a fatal heart attack. This forces Alex and his sister not to tell her about the unification of Germany. Instead, Alex and his sister maintain the illusion that things in Germany are the same as before in German democratic republic. Alex and his sister inform their mother that East Germany is accepting refugees from West Germany after she sees her neighbors’ furniture outside (Clarke p1-239).
The two regions were ruled differently, and the citizens lived a different life. Citizens in West Germany lived a restricted life and were separated from their families and loved ones as shown by Alex. The collapse of the Berlin wall led to the unification of East and West Germany (Merkl p1-146). It had political, social and economic consequences. The collapse of the war created jobs as many people got employment. Further, the collapse of the war led to political freedom and freedom of speech. The residents were able to vote in different political parties during elections.
In addition, it resulted to freedom of movement. However, the changes were shot lived. Capitalism came to East Germany after the collapse of the Berlin wall and had a devastating effect on the citizens. Many people including Alex lost their jobs. Capitalism and soviet aid caused people to lose their jobs. Welfare schemes and social security payments were reduced (Glaebne p1-216).
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