Good Bye, Lenin!
Thursday–Sunday
January 26–29
Davies Theatre
6 + 8:30 pm
Alex (Daniel Bruhl) has a problem on his hands when his mother (Katrin Sass), a proud socialist living in East Germany, awakes from a coma after eight months. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her, and what could be more shocking than the news that the Berlin Wall fell and capitalism has triumphed in her beloved country? To protect her, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist-era museum where his mother is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed. The little white lie turns into a major scam as Alex’s sister and selected neighbors are recruited to maintain the elaborate hoax.
“In a small miracle of agility, director Wolfgang Becker walks the tightrope between pathos and farce with a completely straight face, and he captures the 20th century’s most climactic moment in such an offbeat but satisfying way that his little film could well become a classic” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
Sponsored by the University Activities Commission of the Student Senate
Admission is free at the door with a Blugold Card or an International Film Society membership. Community members may buy an individual IFS membership for $4; a family membership costs $10. The annual memberships are available at the Service Center, 715-836-3727, in Davies Center’s east lobby.
FILM INFORMATION
Germany 2003
121 minutes
Color
In German subtitled in English
Rated R for brief language and sexuality
Directed by Wolfgang Becker
