Good Bye, Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin! is German tragicomedy film, produced in 2001 and released in 2003. Directed by Wolfgang Becker, the cast includes Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova, and Maria Simon. Most scenes were shot at the Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin and around Plattenbauten near Alexanderplatz.
Plot
In a prologue, Alex Kerner (Daniel Brühl) recalls how proud he was as a child in 1978 when the first German to fly in outer space was the East German Sigmund Jähn.
The remainder of the film is set in East Berlin, from October 1989 to just after German reunification a year later. Alex lives with his sister, Ariane (Maria Simon), his mother, Christiane (Katrin Saß), and Ariane's infant daughter, Paula. It appears that his father abandoned the family and fled to the West in 1978. In his absence, Christiane has become an ardent supporter of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (the Party). Alex takes part in an anti-government demonstration, where he meets a girl by chance, but they are separated by the Volkspolizei before they can properly introduce themselves. When Christiane sees Alex being arrested, she suffers a near-fatal heart attack and falls into a coma. The police ignore Alexander's plea to assist his mother. They release him later that evening to go and see her.
