An Analysis Of Good Bye, Lenin?

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Carole D. ZEBAZE/ CPO 3055

“Good Bye, Lenin!” centers around one of the major events of the twentieth century: The fall of the Berlin Wall which marked the end of the Cold War and hastened the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe. The year is 1990. Forty years of the German Democratic Republic have inevitably come to an end. Capitalist West Germany and socialist East Germany have been reunified. Our setting is the post-socialist East Germany. “The winds of change blew on the ruins of our republic”, Alex recounts. The separation between the eastern and western cultures, communism and capitalism, authoritarianism and democracy was no longer. How far will a son go to shelter his beloved mother’s idealism towards the communist nation she pledged …show more content…
Over the years, the east of Berlin became a socialist state under Soviet dominion while the West of the city was subjected to British, US and France influence. In 1961, that separation was crystallized by the construction of the Berlin Wall. The Wall divided the German Democratic Republic from the Federal Republic of Germany.
East Germans lived under a state-controlled establishment: “Quality supplied, to all by all”, a socialist egalitarian ideal is mentioned at the beginning of the movie. By contrast, the West lived in abundance, influenced by Western powers which provided them financial backing through the Marshall plan. The movie hints at the solidarity between East Germany and Mozambique, formerly a socialist regime under President Samora Machel in the 1980s.
As capitalism took over, “working class heroes lost their jobs”. Such is the case for Alex who is suddenly unemployed, a contrast from their former egalitarian society where their basic needs were always taken care of through pensions, guaranteed employment, good and equal wages, free healthcare, education and other …show more content…
“Life in our little country kept getting faster”; and just like the money Alex could no longer exchange, everything had become obsolete. From fast food to satellite dishes to Coca-Cola to the new currency to IKEA, Western products were now the norm, proof that capitalism, consumerism and the rat race had invaded the GDR. Spreewald pickles, a statue of Lenin and other markers of socialism were now gone. The line “all new foods are from Holland” denotes a connection with that country known for its stable democracy, capitalism and economic

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