Like Peter Sellers' "Being There" and Jim Carrey's "Truman Show", this gem works as an interpretation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Instead of trying to escape from the cave, this story beautifully conveys how one young man tries to perpetuate the illusion of the cave for his mother after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Heartfelt, funny and warm. Hard to describe but this is one of those films that’s just gives you *that* feeling. It’s completely honest presenting German reunification for what it actually was, a hard fought idea that was never fully delivered upon. It takes a tumultuous period in history and personalises it through a sitcomesqe storyline that feels weirdly authentic.

I'm gonna put this in my "watch again" list

I felt like the characters in this movie could feel the happiness and difficulties that they faced in real life.

this movie was really interesting. He was able to show that the situation during the revolution is still the same with his mother. His son suffered a lot to do this. Finally, I decided to tell my mother the truth. i liked this movie.

I guess the satire was lost on me. I finally had to stop watching it. I also didn't laugh at all.

Um filme que eu gostei bastante e, sempre que eu lembro de um bom filme, eu lembro dele, mostra muito bem como era à vida na Berlim Oriental e à sua transição para o ocidente com a queda do muro de Berlim. Um longa histórico indispensável para quem quer entender melhor esse momento do nosso passado não muito remoto.

One of the best German movies I've seen. It has so many emotions and is just good.

No film has touched me like this film. My favourite film of all time. I can even watch it in German (a language I don't understand) and it touches my soul. The love of a son for his mother.

A son does everything possible to keep his mother happy and protect her from what happened in Germany while she was in a coma for a long time. It can be challenging to understand if you're not familiar with the history of East and West Germany.

Good Bye, Lenin! ist eine Tragikomödie von Wolfgang Becker… Um seine labile Mutter nach einem langen Koma vor einem verhängnisvollen Schock zu bewahren, muss ein junger Mann im Jahr 1990 vor ihr verbergen, dass ihre geliebte DDR-Nation, wie sie sie kannte, verschwunden ist… Familien- und Zeitgeschichte verbindend, ja, aber der Zuschauer muss die Jahre der Wende miterlebt haben, um zu verstehen, welche Umbrüche "verschlafen wurden"... Ja, Good Bye, Lenin! ist ein Klassiker der deutschen Filmgeschichte und immer wieder sehenswert.

While in a coma after suffering a heart attack, Christiane (Katrin Sass), a staunch supporter of the East German communist regime, misses the fall of the Berlin Wall and the arrival of capitalism in East Berlin. When she suddenly emerges from her coma, her son Alex (Daniel Bruhl) is forced to deceive her into believing that all is as it was before her illness in order to protect her from shock and a reoccurrence of her heart problems. While it sometimes plays like an extended sit-com and the ruse eventually feels like it's starting to wear thin, Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye, Lenin! is filled with light humor, poignant drama, and enough good intentions to keep things interesting, as implausible as it all may be.

I had to watch this for my German class and it was pretty good. The performances are pretty great, the story is kinda interesting, but i just wasnt that interested in the subject itself. What i do wanna say, heads of to the production designers and other crew who designed this movie. you really created the feel as if you were in the DDR time, pretty great. There were some really emotional moments in this film, which really hits you overall. Overall pretty great movie, just wasnt that interested.

Taken me far too long to get round to watching what is an absolute gem of a film. Beautifully directed, hits just the right pitch. Emotional and funny concurrently. It really is a touching film without tipping over into over sentimentality. One of the best films of the century thus far.

I saw this film back when it first came out. I enjoyed it then and thought recently that I would like to revisit it. It's based on the nutty premise that a son, Alex, needs to do anything he can to protect his mother from the knowledge that East Germany has fallen. Silly as that notion is, however, it's an entertaining film with likable characters, including the father and ex-husband. And the ex-astronaut taxi driver is a nice little addition.

The irony in Daniel Brühl's major international debut coming as a character attempting to preserve the shadow of communism while he has become far more recognizable in later years for his appearances in the MCU, possibly the most capitalist film franchise from the most capitalist media company that exists. Lacking the particular experience of the fall of the Berlin Wall or even the memory of the ideological conflicts that formed the undercurrent of 20th century politics, Good Bye Lenin! probably doesn't ring as poignantly funny as it does to someone tied more closely to the events in question. But as a family dramedy with a sense of longing for a generic, lost way of life, there's plenty to like in this film, particularly the sense of devotion and love that stays secure throughout the more unsure times that the characters live through (and as I type this, Russia has announced an invasion of Ukraine in some abortive attempt to reclaim Soviet glory through the bombing of cities of a sovereign nation, so there was a particular dark perspective that this viewing was imbued with). The comedy probably takes the same premise around the block one too many times, but the concept is still a winning one, sifting through trash for an East German-branded pickle jar to prevent a shock that may cause the death of our main character's recently comatose mother. Tying in the family highs and lows intimately with a national identity gives the film a surprising amount of heft to what could have been a purely comedic premise in other hands, to the point where you will likely find yourself surprisingly emotionally invested in the outcome of the story. The comedy-drama is an intensely difficult genre to get right, but Good Bye Lenin!, despite perhaps a bit of excess length, largely succeeds. (3/5)

Just right! This film resonates. The storyline, performances, humour amidst a poignant setting are all in perfect measure.

Buena película, realmente me sorprendió mucho. Yo creo que esta película brilla por su gran trama, que no voy a negar que es sencilla, pero es tan original y esta tan bien hecha que al final te llega a emocionar. Creo que esto se debe a la pureza del sentimiento de un hijo hacia su madre, que casi todo el mundo conoce bien. El marco de la historia alemana moderna le da a la película mucho encanto, y la historia se cuenta con suavidad y calidez. Me gusta que esta película logra mezclar drama y comedia para crear algo serio y divertido; incluso tiene algunos momentos tristes. Resulta particularmente interesante para aquellos que conocen al menos un poco de la historia que rodea los días de la división entre Alemania del Este y el Oeste y la caída del Muro de Berlín, lo cual es un acontecimiento muy interesante. Lo único que no me gusta es que no es el tipo de película para mi, incluso creo que no la volvería a ver, pero aun así me gusto mucho. También, tengo que destacar el genial soundtrack que tiene compuesto por el gran Jann Tiersen. En conclusión, un clásico del cine alemán que logro pisar fuerte en la industria del cine principalmente por su hermosa historia. La recomiendo.

This film, in its simplicity, is incredibly moving. I believe this is due to the purity of the feeling of a son towards his mother, which almost everyone knows well. The frame of modern German history gives the movie a lot of charm, and the story is told gently and warmly. It's simply magnetic.

Made me cry (which never happens at films). Feels like the DDR version of Amelie, but that is possibly because the soundtrack is by the same artist, Jann Tiersen. I think this was more affecting because this all happened in my lifetime and I visited what had been East Germany not long after the wall came down and am really interested in this period as it's very different to what I remember growing up as a kid in the 80s in the UK. It's an amazing film, and very sympathetic to what half of a nation must have felt.