Saturday, June 12, 2004

Saw Goodbye, Lenin! -- hilarious and moving, comedy and touching drama. Set among a family living in pre-unification East Germany, where life is typically grimy and drear, and the mom, after Dad defects, plunges herself into being a devout Communist. When her son takes part in the ensuing protests for freedom, the mom has a heart attack and lapses into a coma. While she sleeps, the world -- as the song goes -- wakes up from history: the Berlin wall comes down, Coca-Cola and Burger King moves in. When Mom wakes, the changes are already in place, and her son -- for fear of bringing on another heart attack that could kill her -- desperately tries to de-Westernize their apartment, so that Mom can live happily in the fantasy of the old departed world. Very funny and fast-paced, and surprisingly tender at the end. See it.

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