Bye, Lenin! Is a 2003

¶ … Bye, Lenin! is a 2003 German film directed by Wolfgang Becker that examines the impact the division and reunification of Germany into East and West had on Alex Kerner, played by Daniel Bruhl, and his mother, Christiane, played by Katrin Sass. Throughout the film, Alex attempts to shield his mother from the changes in East Germany up to and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Through Alex's attempts, and his mother's revelations, Good Bye, Lenin! proves to be a film of separation and reconciliation and the sacrifices people are forced to make. Good Bye, Lenin! begins in October 1989 before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since 1978, when Robert Kerner left his family and fled to West Germany, Christiane has been tasked with taking care of her family.

One night, on her way home, Christiane sees Alex being arrested after his participation in a non-violent protest against the government -- during which he happens to meet Lara -- and suffers a heart attack, then falls into a comatose state for eight months. During those eight months, the entire social and political structure of East and West Germany is changed. Not only does the Berlin Wall get torn down, but capitalism and Westernization are introduced to East Germany.

These concepts can be seen through the variety of foreign products and corporations that begin to pour into former-East Germany such as pickles from Holland, Burger King, and Coca-Cola. During the eight months that Christiane is in a coma, Alex encounters Lara at the hospital and discovers that she is helping to take care of his mother.

When their mother does awaken from her coma, Alex and Ariane, his sister, are forced to pretend that society has not changed as Christiane's doctor warns Alex that any shock may induce another heart attack, which unlike the one that left her comatose, may end up killing her. In order to protect his mother, Alex retrofits his house and all the groceries he buys, and he creatively edits the news to make his mother believe nothing has changed.

As his mother begins to recuperate, Alex, Lara, Ariane, Paula (Ariane's daughter), Rainer (Araine's boyfriend), and Christiane take a trip to the country where Christiane reveals that Robert did not abandon his family, but rather fled because he feared political persecution and had planned on sending for his family as soon as he was able to, however, Christiane never coordinated -- and in fact, blew off -- Robert.

Christiane almost immediately suffers a second heart attack and is rushed to the hospital where Alex plans to carry out one last con and finally let his mother know that Germany had been reunified, a ruse that Christiane goes along with since she had already been informed by Lara that the Berlin Wall had been torn down and Alex has been trying to shield her from all the changes society has undergone.

Through Alex's and Christiane's actions, the viewer is able to understand how political circumstances force people to make sacrifices for their families and to make decisions based on what they think is best at the.