Case Study 3: Goodbye Lenin - Pearson Schools and FE Colleges

Transcription

Section C New horizons
Online chapter
3
Case study: Goodbye Lenin
Country: Germany
Production year: 2003
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Certificate: 12A
Main awards:
Berlin International Film Festival,
2003 – Blue Angel
Directors Guild of Great Britain,
2004
César Awards, France, 2004
European Film Awards, 2003 –
Audience Award, European Film
Award
1 Promotional poster for Goodbye Lenin
In this case study we will cover:
the themes and issues raised in Goodbye Lenin
the ways in which people, places and events are represented
the style and genre of the film
possible creative responses.
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Section C, Case study: Goodbye Lenin
Synopsis
When Goodbye Lenin begins, 20-year-old Alex and his sister, Ariane, are living with
their mother, Christiane, in an apartment block in East Berlin. It is 1989 and Berlin is in
turmoil. Christiane has been a lifelong member of the communist party and when she
sees Alex taking part in an anti-government demonstration she has a stroke and falls
into a coma.
During the eight months Christiane is unconscious, the Berlin Wall that had divided
communist East Berlin from capitalist West Berlin is knocked down and both ‘halves’ of
Berlin become united once more.
When Christiane wakes up, Alex and Ariane decide to keep the political events of the
previous eight months a secret, fearing the shock may cause another stroke. It is this
decision that creates the comedy as the family desperately try to explain and hide
away the new westernised world of fast food, fashion and advertising by creating an
increasingly fake world surrounding their sick mother’s bed.
Activity 1
AO3: Demonstrate planning, research and presentational skills
In small groups find out what the Berlin Wall was, when it was built and when it was demolished.
Introduction
Berlin is the capital city of Germany. It had a turbulent history and became the focus of
divisions within Germany itself after the Second World War.
In 1961, the city was divided into two parts by a wall that became known as the Berlin
Wall. This wall was seen to separate communist East Germany (the German Democratic
Republic (GDR)) from capitalist West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)).
Life for the Germans who lived in East Germany was very different from those who lived
in the West. There were none of the ‘trappings’ of western culture, for example, fast food
chains like Burger King, furniture chains such as IKEA, or clothes stores like Marks and
Spencer. Some families living in East Berlin became separated from close relatives, or
friends, living only a short distance away in West Berlin, on the other side of the wall. The
East German government (GDR) controlled people’s lives much more rigidly than in the
West and although many East Germans preferred the communist system, lots of others
on both sides of the wall longed for a united Germany.
Wolfgang Becker, the director of Goodbye Lenin, had close links with East Berlin. He was
anxious to give audiences, who perhaps knew very little about Berlin’s history, an insight
into the differences between the two halves of this great city in the late 1980s. He
decided to do this by focusing on one family, the Kerners, in his film. He does not give the
audience an entirely positive representation of the West or an entirely negative view of
the East. Instead he uses humour, mixed with some sadness, in order to explore what was
lost and what was gained during the turbulent eight months when Christiane slept and
the Berlin Wall was finally pulled down.
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Activity 2
AO3: Demonstrate planning, research and presentational skills
Find out as much as you can about the story of ‘Rip Van Winkle’. Who was he? What is
his story?
Several critics have called Christiane a ‘German Rip Van Winkle’. What does she have
in common with this fairy tale character?
Themes and issues
2 Themes and issues in
Goodbye Lenin
Hopes and
dreams
Truth and lies
Family
relationships
Political
change
Old and
new
Activity 3
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how films communicate
AO2: Explore, respond to and reflect on a range of films and topics
Watch the sequence which includes the family celebration of Christiane’s birthday and ends just after Alex and
his mother have watched the ‘news’ together. (55.38 to 104.32)
How many lies are told during this sequence?
What is the reaction of friends and family to the way in which one lie rapidly leads to the need for another? Is
there a sense that Alex is becoming increasingly isolated from everyone else?
How does Alex attempt to explain away the unfurling of the massive Coca-Cola logo from the multi-storey
building during his birthday speech for his mother?
How does he try to ‘prove’ that he is telling Christiane the ‘truth’?
Alex says in this sequence ‘the truth is a dubious concept’. What motivates his lies? Do you think they are
justified? Are there times when lying can be morally justified?
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Truth and lies
Alex’s lies become increasingly outrageous and so do the lengths he goes to in order
to back them up. He uses actual footage of the Berlin Wall falling and people rushing
into the West and twists the truth by creating a new commentary. This commentary
explains that the footage shows people desperately rushing from the West in order to
escape from their narrow, materialistic
lives. Although we smile, he shows just
how easy it is for us to believe what
we are told, or shown, in the media.
3 Don’t believe everything
you see in the news!
The deeper Alex gets into his fictional
world, the more convinced his
girlfriend, Lara, and sister Ariane are
that he is doing the wrong thing.
But Alex is not the only member of
the family who has been ‘bending
the truth’. Christiane has been living
a lie for many years and it is not until
almost the end of the film that the
family are told that it is she who
abandoned their father by refusing
to join him in the West. He did not leave her for another woman or turn his back on his
children.
Family relationships
When the film begins we see a close family made up of very different characters. As
the narrative develops, relationships become more and more strained, mainly because
of Alex’s increasingly controlling behaviour. The deception that began for the best of
reasons – to protect Christiane – is carried to ridiculous extremes affecting what Ariane
does for a living, which nappies her baby wears and even who was responsible for
inventing Coca-Cola!
Yet in spite of all these lies, the strong bonds between mother and children remain.
Love leads to forgiveness and the chance for a new beginning. Alex and Ariane forgive
Christiane for her deception.
It is also clear that Christiane initially suspects, and then finally learns about, Alex’s lies.
Certainly, when he walks into her hospital room after her second stroke it is clear that
Lara has told her something of what is happening. Her final moments with him when
she pretends to continue to believe his fantastical lies also underline the strength of
their love.
Hopes and dreams: dreaming of space
The flashbacks to Alex’s youth show his desperation to make the world right for his
mother and to make her proud of him. He dreams of becoming East Germany’s second
man in space. He joins the Young Rocket Builders – footage of his achievements is
juxtaposed with footage of his mother and her achievements in the old East Berlin. His
childhood anxieties are carried into adulthood as he battles to create the perfect world
of his mother’s dreams.
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Activity 4
Watch the sequence which begins 3.37 (Chapter 1) and finishes 4.27.
What does the sequence tell you about Alex’s relationship with his mother when he was young?
What do you learn about his hopes for the future?
Focus carefully on the mise-en-scène in the shots that mark the transition from Alex as a child to ‘10 YEARS
LATER’. What do these shots tell you about the difference between childhood dreams and adult reality for
Alex?
Think carefully about what you learn about the astronaut Sigmund Jahn in the new reunified Germany.
Can you think of any connection between Jahn’s fate and Alex’s own experiences?
Old and new
As Alex, Ariane and Christiane look at Berlin through their apartment window, Alex
says, ‘The GDR I had created for her had increasingly become the one she had wished
for.’ Alex and Christiane are very alike, both have big hopes and dreams. Each of them
believes that these can be achieved by creating a fictional world. Each of them finally
finds there is no such thing as a perfect world, but they do have the love and support
of family and friends, and perhaps that is enough for anyone to hope for.
Activity 5
Carry out some research on Lenin and who he was.
Re-watch the sequence where Christiane walks outside for the first time. (1.19.00–1.23.30)
List the things that surround her that she would not have seen in the ‘old’ East Berlin.
The statue that floats through the air is of Lenin. Why do you think his statue is being taken away?
How does Alex try to explain away what Christiane has seen?
Political change
Alex’s search for the old foods, such as ‘Spreewald pickles’, has a clear narrative purpose.
These foods were produced and sold in the old East Germany where often it was
impossible to produce enough to meet demand. The director, Wolfgang Becker,
juxtaposes shots which invite us to compare both systems of government. Alex threads
his way through the old furniture which has been dumped out on the street in order
to make way for the IKEA invasion. Coca-Cola banners hang from old apartment blocks.
The supermarket shelves have been ‘invaded’ by new brands from Holland and the rest
of the world.
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Activity 6
Watch the sequence which begins 39.00 and ends 45.30.
How is the contrast between the shops in the old East Berlin and the new united Berlin underlined?
What do you think the Giant Duck’s purpose is in this sequence?
The differences between the two halves of the city are highlighted by a montage
sequence where we see in muted, washed out colours the empty shelves of old East
Berlin supermarkets. A single, defrosting, bloody chicken lies at the bottom of a huge
chest freezer; this shot is juxtaposed with the vibrant colours of the brightly packaged
goods cramming the shelves of shops in the new westernised Berlin.
These kinds of images, together with Alex’s manic attempts to obtain pickles and other
equally grim foods, make us smile. Each system is shown as lacking – the emptiness
and lack of choice in the East is contrasted with the overwhelming choice (the same
products branded differently), excess and waste of the West.
Genre and style
Key terms
Satire: a method of
highlighting human
or individual faults or
shortcomings by making
them seem ridiculous
(often used to attack
something that the filmmaker disapproves of )
Tragicomedy: a film
that combines aspects of
tragedy and comedy
Key terms
Farce: a comedy which
uses improbable situations,
verbal humour and a plot
where the action speeds up
to a climax and resolution
Running joke: an
amusing situation or line
that reappears throughout
a film
Irony: a device which
highlights the difference
between what is intended
or said, and what actually
happens
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Although Goodbye Lenin deals with some serious themes and issues, Alex’s attempts
to recreate an East Berlin that has already vanished are comical. It is the way that
these changes are highlighted as Alex tries to hide them that creates much of the
humour in the film. Goodbye Lenin combines elements of satire with a central love
story – the story of Alex’s love for his mother. It is the contrast between the serious
political background and the emotional turmoil of the family’s response to Christiane’s
life-threatening condition that makes this film a tragicomedy – comedy which deals
with tragically sad situations in a humorous way. The fact that we laugh at Alex and his
desperate efforts to protect his mother from the ‘real world’ does not mean we are not
moved by her death, or affected by the strength of the mother–son bond between the
two central characters. There are references and ‘in-jokes’ that only a German audience
can understand; but equally there are others that make us smile, or even laugh out
loud.
Farce
Alex’s lies and pretence become more and more outrageous as the film continues
and his actions become increasingly frenzied and bizarre. His improbable situation is
made even funnier by the use of running jokes, for example, the recurring references
to Spreewald pickles. The plot speeds up until it is finally ‘resolved’ with Christiane’s
confession and last stroke.
Throughout the film we are made to smile at situations that are quite sad. Without
realising it Alex becomes more and more controlling of his friends, family and
environment. He does, in fact, use the methods of the old communist state; the irony
here is that Christiane’s original stroke was brought on when she saw Alex protesting
against the old regime.
As Christiane finds out more about the world she has woken up to, Alex is forced to
resort to ever more complicated methods of covering up, or explaining away, what she
has discovered. In order to do this he distorts and manipulates the media, and forces
people to act against their real natures and principles using a mixture of bullying and
emotional blackmail. He manipulates their loyalty to him and to his mother in order to
control their actions. Goodbye Lenin is a farce based on dishonesty and as such could be
seen to parallel the old regime in East Germany.
Activity 7
Conventionally in a farce the main protagonist gets away with what he/she was
trying to hide at all costs. Does this happen in Goodbye Lenin?
Farce and satire often go hand in hand in this type of comedy. Can you pick out any
incidents or ideas in the film that are satirical?
The farce is often a very flexible genre and combines with other forms, including
the romantic comedy. Which elements of the romantic comedy have you noticed in
Goodbye Lenin?
Certainly this film is not as heavy as it may seem at first. It is filled with many light
comedic moments. There is the development of the relationship between Alex and
Lara (his first love). Alex times his visits to see his mother in order to coincide with
Lara’s hospital shifts. They make love in an abandoned apartment formerly occupied
by a government official. Their relationship is tender, loving, hopeful but even this is
threatened by Alex’s imaginary world.
Christiane’s death could be seen as sad but the final sequences are filled with hope:
Alex’s childhood dreams are rekindled, the family are reunited and the future is filled
with promise.
Representation
4 Christiane discovers the
‘real world’
There are several interesting recurring motifs in Goodbye Lenin. The wonders of space
and space travel are referred to repeatedly. We learn about Alex’s childhood and his
obsession with space travel early on in the film.
When Christiane first ventures into the outside world after her
stroke she sees Lenin drifting off into the sunset. As his statue
passes in front of her, his hand at the front of the frame seems
to beckon to her but she does not follow.
For Christiane, coming out into the ‘real world’ means
letting go of the imaginary world that she has spent years
inhabiting and facing up to the truth of her situation. Facing
up to the fact that she had abandoned her husband and
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that the ideals that helped her to justify the lies she told her children are no longer
important, or valid.
For Alex, this means facing up to the fact that a world that is built up of lies is bound to
collapse sooner or later.
Activity 8
Review the final sequence.
Make a note of the number of times space travel is referred to.
The film’s director, Becker, uses archive footage to begin the film and the final
sequence shows Alex and his family launching their homemade rocket containing
Christiane’s ashes into ‘space’. Why do you think he has chosen to open and close the
film this way?
Sigmund Jahn, the first East German in space and Alex’s childhood hero, is shown
driving a taxi in the new reunified Berlin. What do you think this might say about the
differences between East and West Germany?
Wolfgang Becker interweaves archive footage of real events into the narrative. These
are really important. This technique encourages the audience to consistently remember
that he is talking about real events. It also allows him to play with ideas about ‘truth and
lies’. He demonstrates just how easy it is to manipulate footage of real events in order
to create a particular kind of response. The fake Berlin Alex builds in order to protect his
mother was, in many ways, the ideal Germany some may have dreamed of. Letting go
of this amounted to letting go of former heroes. For Alex this meant Sigmund Jahn, for
Christiane this meant Lenin. One drives away in a taxi cab, the other is removed from
his plinth and transported through the air towards an unknown destination. Goodbye
Lenin explores these issues while at the same time telling a story that is both funny and
emotionally involving.
Additional resources
Goodbye Lenin Study Guide: Film Education
Goodbye Lenin: Wikipedia
Requiem for a Dream: Goodbye Lenin: www.filmmonthly.com
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Case Study 3: Goodbye Lenin - Pearson Schools and FE Colleges

Transcription

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