Goodbye Lenin! - Analysis
Chapter 1
The first chapter of Goodbye Lenin! is perfect for a discussion about cinematography, more specifically, color as the main aspect of cinematography. The first four minutes shows where the story is going to be taking place, which is actually part of the narrative; however at 00:1:02 we see a home movie of Alex standing in front of the TV tower and suddenly the red part of the flag of the DDR, with hammer and compass, fades into the home movie and color the scene red. Throughout the first few minutes we see home movies of Alex and his sister changing over to pictures of Berlin and the red color fading in and out. We watch as windows turn red, and then the red rectangle turns into a red concrete high-rise before it then becomes just a normal grayish high rise. A statue of Lenin also constantly fades in and out of the film’s scenes. At 2:10 we find ourselves in the living room in the Kerner’s apartment. Alex and his sister are watching the first German go into outer space as the Stasi are interviewing Frau Kerner in the kitchen concerning the whereabouts of her husband. There is even a red thermos on the kitchen counter. As the camera tracks from living room to kitchen and back to the living room, it moves ever closer to the subjects in each scene. This gives the viewer a feeling of apprehension or anticipation of something to come. When Frau Lerner returns home from a stay in the hospital, she is surprised by Alex and her sister and Alex is in a homemade costume portraying a rocket decorated with symbols of the DDR. The rocket is red and blue. Later at school, Alex shoots off a red rocket that he has made.
Students may reach other conclusions, but the the color red does an incredibly good job of showing how the “Reds” or communists permeate every aspect of daily life in the DDR. Regardless of whether one is at home in a newly constructed, concrete, high rise or enjoying a stroll down the street or at work, the presence of the Stasi is always felt. I was quite surprised at how much red permeates chapter 1. As a matter of fact, I didn't see so much red until after I chose color as the focus. I also feel that it is worth mentioning at this point that the use of red is an overarching theme of the film that really ties the entire film together. I will be mentioning this several times in the analysis of the other chapters.
Chapter 2
Students will probably want to keep color as a focus in chapter 2 as well, since red stays at the forefront, but here I have chosen to concentrate on film sound. It is now ten years later and from the very beginning of chapter 2, our ears are accosted by the sounds of an enormous military parade through East Berlin. We hear the celebratory parade music and the rumble of tanks and large transport trucks. The stomp, stomp, stomp of thousands of soldiers marching in goose-step between symbols of military might is like the beating heart of East Berlin. As the scene moves from the parade through a red-draped window of the Kerner’s apartment, we can hardly hear the conversations taking place. The massive parade outside is making everything in the apartment shake. The dishes are rattling in the cupboards, the pictures are banging against the walls, things on Alex’s dresser are rattling onto the floor, and the close-up of the drummers in the military band marking time, all add to the feeling of chaos. As this daytime noise gives way to the relative silence of night, the camera shows us a somewhat smaller “parade”. This parade is not organized like the earlier one. This one starts out small and continues to grow: it is a demonstration for freedom of the press. The quiet is short-lived as the police show up to quell the rebellion. The shrill sounds of police sirens pierce the night and the shouts of “Pressefreiheit” turn into screams of pain as police batons break bones and skulls and protestors are kicked and beaten.
These penetrating sounds have the power to rattle high rise apartment buildings, foreshadowing how the abusive state of the DDR is being shaken to its foundations. The beating heart of the DDR is weakening—just like the heart of Alex’s mother. In place of the old regime, a new power is beginning to take hold: it is the power of the people. Alex’s own strength and determination are likewise going to have to grow in order for him to lead the family into the future.
Chapter 3
It was easy for me to choose to focus on the narrative for chapter 3, as there isn’t so much dialogue between characters. Instead, Alex’s acutely ironic voiceover dominates the scene. While Alex sits with his coworkers watching television and scoffing at an original news report, the voiceover states that his mother’s sleep darkens the retirement of the valuable comrade, Erich Honecker. Yet another original news report informs us of the fall of the Berlin Wall and shows Helmut Kohl with Willy Brandt singing the national anthem in front of Schöneberg City Hall. In the meantime, Alex’s voiceover explains that his mother slept through a classical concert in front of Schöneberg City Hall and tells of the beginning of a gigantic, one-of-a-kind junk collection. As Alex rides his moped past the border guards into the West, visits a movie rental and catches his first glimpse of a pornographic movie, the voiceover explains that she missed his first trip to the West and how a couple of determined and dutiful guards protect the workers and farmers and that, of course, his first cultural experience in the new land also escaped her. Chapter 3 continues on in this vein.
The irony here is rich and provides a bit of comic relief around the fact that Alex’s mother is in a coma. What his voiceover recounts is just the opposite of what happened in East Germany. News footage shown to the citizens of the DDR was always very positive about the regime, the economy, the overall mood of the country, etc., while the reality was often not as positive.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 is a bit harder to pin down. By this time, the students will be able to pick out the red Coca-Cola transport trucks passing in front of the last changing of the guard taking place in East Berlin. They will also take note of the red overalls of the new, satellite-tv company Alex goes to work for, and hopefully one of them will notice that the satellite motif on the back of the workers’ red jackets resemble the hammer and compass from the old East German flag. But the overarching theme in chapter four has more to do with character development. Alex spends much of his non-working hours at the hospital talking to his mother, who is still in a coma, about nurse Lara. When he isn’t there, he sends a tape recording of himself talking about nurse Lara, his sister, and his niece. Voiceover is also used in chapter four, but in this case it’s more to explain how Alex came to ask nurse Lara out on their first date. We also learn that Alex’s father had left for the West before the fall of the Wall, and that he’s never heard from him since. While Alex and Lara are on their date, they end up in a crumbling apartment building lit from the inside and talk about the future.
The color red is again put to good use in this sequence. It can signal the change of the regime and moving from a state-planned economy to a free-market economy. The red might also foreshadow the way in which an icon of consumerism, such as the Coca-Cola symbol, will permeate society in much the same way the symbols of communism once did. There’s a tone in Alex’s voiceover that leads one to believe that he is hopeful about the future. This feeling is enhanced by the dialogue between Alex and Lara as they pass through run-down and broken buildings. The rubble of the past stands in stark contrast to the couple’s hope of a new and better future.
Chapter 5
There is so much going on in chapter 5 that I have decided to focus on mise-en-scene. I had several of my own “ah-ha” moments reviewing this chapter so that I almost wish someone had recorded me as I watched. We find Alex and Denis, Alex’s new partner at the satellite-tv company, in Denis’ room. Denis is showing Alex some of the films he’s been making and how good he is at editing. Denis is wearing a T-shirt with a pattern that is similar to the green code-streaming sequences found in The Matrix. Later Alex passes through the border between East and West Berlin and tells us that the border is longer of use. We then cut to a scene in Frau Kerner’s hospital room. As Alex and Lara share their first kiss, Frau Kerner awakens from her coma and knocks a flower vase to the floor. Lights flicker behind Alex as he is leaning over talking to his mother and suddenly we are in the doctor’s office. There is a black coffee mug on the desk that has a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other side. Whenever the camera is pointed at the doctor, we see the sad face, and whenever the camera is pointed at Alex and his sister, Ariane, we see the happy face. The last scene of chapter 5 shows Alex, Ariane, and Paula, Ariane’s daughter in Frau Kerner’s hospital room. For the first time during a visit, Alex and Paula are now wearing long-sleeved surgical gowns making as they lie to their mother about what happened the night she had the heart attack. The gowns are a direct indication that they are hiding the truth.
Denis’ “Matrix” T-shirt does an incredible job of conveying an alternate reality, one where it’s difficult to know what is real and what is created. This foreshadows Denis’ role in helping Alex to create an alternate truth for his mother later in the film. This relates back to the way the old regime provided the citizens of East Germany with an alternate reality. They never really knew the truth about the status of their government. Frau Kerner awaking and knocking off the flower vase just as the kiss is shared shows us how blossoming young love can be interrupted by other circumstances. This relates to the set-backs and difficulties that the people of the former DDR are going to have as things begin anew. The open border still being manned by drunken soldiers alludes to the blurring of the lines between truth and the false reality that Alex will create for his mother. I can imagine that the people of the former DDR must have also had a blurry-eyed feeling, as if waking up from a long sleep and not knowing for certain what their lives would hold.
Chapter 6
It was much more difficult for me to analyze chapter 6 and I’m almost positive that my students will, at this point, be able to catch more than I have. I will try to draw their attention to the editing. The first part of the chapter has many quick cuts, speeding up the narrative of the film. Alex and Denis’ are frantically rearranging Frau Kerner’s room and getting it back to the way t was when she entered the hospital. Ariane and Rainer, Ariane boyfriend from the West, had taken out all of Frau Kerner’s furniture and put it in the basement. All this happens quickly. Later, as Frau Kerner is moved by ambulance back into her bedroom, the shots get longer and lighting softer. The characters also speak more quietly.
This high speed, frenetic pace at the beginning of the chapter is reminiscent of the changes that happened so quickly in the former East. Many people moved into East Berlin from the West in 1990. The rents were cheap and the young “Wessies” felt as if the possibilities of creating a new life were endless. On the other hand, many professionals took the opportunity to leave East Berlin and move to the West. This constant state of change and movement had to eventually slow down so that the government and people could [] assess in what direction things should move. The film had to also slow down so that Alex could gain a perspective on what it is he was trying to accomplish.
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 focuses once more on the narrative. We follow Alex as he searches for his mother’s favorite foods. Unfortunately for him, the grocery store has gone from the grey, dingy store of the past to a gleaming new market full of western goods. His mother’s favorites can’t be found, so he digs through garbage to find empty jars to transfer the new brands into old brand jars. One of Alex’s older neighbors and friend of Frau Kerner sees Alex digging through the trash and laments the way things are now. The older man is now jobless. The old East German currency can be changed into DMs at a rate of 1:2. When Germany wins the Soccer World Championship 1:0, there are celebrations everywhere because of the soccer victory and the arrival of “real” money.
This chapter tells the story of how quickly life changed for people living in the East. One day they had jobs, the next day many didn’t. Their brands of food and coffee were no longer competitive and couldn’t be found. If people didn’t exchange their old money for the West’s DM within a short period of time, then their savings were worthless. People who had gone “on vacation” when Hungary opened its border with Austria never came back and their apartments with all their possessions were left for the taking. For some young people, like Lara, this also meant a new start, because all she had to do was move in.
Chapter 8
If time allows, chapter 8 could be shown with chapter 7, as it is a continuation of the story. Alex prepares for his mother’s birthday celebration by inviting friends and former colleagues. He also pays two schoolboys 20 DM a piece to wear the Pioneer bandana and sing the old Pioneer theme song. As he explains to former friends that his mother actually knows nothing about the reunification, one of the men comments that her not knowing is something to be jealous of. While they are talking, we see a red board behind them with photos on it. Alex goes to the apartment of Frau Kerner’s old principal, Dr. Klapprat, and finds him in a pathetic state. He is no longer a principal and laments the time when all teachers and leaders were valuable. He no longer feels valued and explains that Frau Kerner was often too idealistic after her husband left and that’s why she had so many problems with her colleagues at school. At this point in time, the World Cup Tournament is taking place and we see real footage of Germans in the stadiums waving both East German flags and West German flags and singing the German national anthem.
Chapter eight shows us the back and forth the people of the East most have experienced. Many missed the way things were. People had jobs and stability, but no real freedoms. They had loves and friendships, even though many so-called friendships leaned much more towards forced collegiality than friendship. I want my students to pick up on the constant mix of old and new, for example, old TVs and new satellites, old Trabants and new automobiles, old clothing styles and new, and old-time restaurants and Burger King.
Chapters 9 and 10
I am combining these two chapters because the “Coca-Cola” story flows from nine into ten. At this point in the movie it makes sense to start combining chapters when possible and the students should be able to start recognizing how various film elements are used to relate a story. The vocabulary that I have picked out for both chapters is also short and so I will probably combine them as well.
The students will be able to immediately pick out Alex’s red moped helmet and Lara’s red blouse. As Frau Kerner’s birthday celebration is happening in her bedroom, she sees a long Coca-Cola banner unfold from the top of one of the other high rise buildings. This takes us back to one of the first scenes in the movie during the 40th anniversary celebration of the DDR where all the buildings were draped in red. It signals the change from the old, state-planned economic system to the new free-market system and the prevalence of consumerism instead of communism. One of Frau Kerner’s old friends wishes her a happy birthday and says, “may everything be the way it was”. The same man later says something in the background, “They betrayed us and sold us out!…….after 40 years……betrayed us and sold us out!” Students will also be able to pick up on the music in these two chapters, especially as Alex is looking for his mother’s East German currency in the old furniture that is now on the street waiting to be hauled away to the dump. The sounds are also important as Alex tosses the now worthless East German money into the West wind. Lara bids him to scream and as he does, the sounds of celebration and fireworks going off are heard. Here again, in theses two chapters we get a sense of some people trying to hold on to the past and the way things were, while some are celebrating the future and the way things will be. This time, when we see people in the soccer stadium, we see that many East German flags are missing their hammer and compass. This could also signal that while people are happy they are free, there is still something missing, that somehow they aren’t quite whole. In fact, the country isn’t quite whole.
As stated earlier in the rationale section of this unit, I will not include an analysis of the last six chapters. I believe my students will be able to follow the themes already presented. Please see the strategies section for ideas on how to complete the last six chapters.
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