How does Contemporary German Film portray the past?

(Becker, 2003)


When the Berlin Wall fell on the 9th of November in 1989, it signified the re-unification of Germany, a state that had been split apart since the culmination of the Second World War. Russia had relinquished their grip on East Germany meaning that Germany could form once again and celebrate their freedom as a union. Scholars criticise German film in this period at how they gloss over their past and rewrite it for themselves (Engur, 2015, pp. 145). The film in which this blog post will focus on is Wolfgang Becker’s ‘Good Bye Lenin’ and how his motion picture addresses the changes Germany underwent soon after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

(Becker, 2003)

 ‘Good Bye Lenin’ centres around the reunification of Germany choosing to focus on a son who has to hide the truth from his mother whom has recently come out of a coma. In his film, Becker suggests that the reunification of Germany resulted in cultures merging and ways of life altering for good. This follows the belief and sensibility of ‘ostalgie’ which is a form of nostalgia to the way of life in East Germany (Fisher & Prager, 2010, pp. 195), however, this was believed to be a severe criticism and that the notion of ostalgie glosses over some severities of the time such as the Stazi officers (Ibid, pp. 195). A common example of ostalgie is the concept of Lost ‘Heimat’ which is described as being “reminded of the past and its everyday items” and that when former residents of East Germany encounter “everyday items from those days, many have tears in their eyes.” (Dick, 2014). Becker applies this sentimentality towards everyday items in ‘Good Bye Lenin’ when there is an elongated comedic sequence in which Alex is tasked with swapping labels on a pickle jar to sustain the belief that Germany hasn’t changed to fool his mother but also, as Kimberly Coulter explains, to sustain the imagination of “what his homeland should have been” (Coulter, 2013, pp. 762).

(Becker, 2003)

Alongside the ostalgie many experienced in this period, confusion was also another emotion expressed by many. For some, it meant they were “faced with the unthinkable transformation of their ideology” (Engur, 2015, pp.143) as their way of life was forever to be changed. A clip that explains this is when Alex’s mother takes her first steps outside and she is exposed to this ‘New’ Germany as neighbours move in with highly decorative furniture and she stands in shock as a statue of Lenin is flown past her. The same could be said for the state of German cinema as that began to become Americanized. Multiplexes were taking over and the DEFA was denationalised making way for global film markets. Becker hints at this Americanisation and loss of German identity during a montage. We see large Coca Cola trucks drive in front of a memorial in which armed guards stand and Alex also has to hide a giant billboard from his mother to keep the illusion going.

(Becker, 2003)

Contemporary German Cinema had no choice but to comment on the tumultuous past of Germany but in regards to ‘Good Bye Lenin’, Becker chooses a more favourable perspective as he romanticises the GDR and its farewell (Coulter, 2013, pp. 764) and suggests that it was missed by many. Through the techniques of Alex’s hijinks to hide the truth from his mother and the mentality of clinging on to what was, he pushes the concept of ostalgie onto the screen and that the reunification put Germany into a confusing state where they no longer had a specific identity thanks to the international influences.



Bibliography:
Becker, W. (Director). (2003). Good Bye, Lenin!. [Motion Picture]. Germany: X-Filme Creative Pool

Coulter, K., (2013), Territorial Appeals in Post-Wall German Filmmaking: The Case of Good Bye Lenin!, In Antipode, 45(3), pp. 760-778

Dick, W., (2014), Ostalgia: Romanticising The GDR, DW, Retrieved from http://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097

Engur, E. C., (2015), Reinventing consumption traditions through the process of unification of a country: Understanding "GoodBye Lenin!", In CineJ Cinema Journal, 5(1), pp. 138-154


Fisher, J. & Prager, B., (2010), The Collapse of the Conventional: German Film and Its Politics at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century, Detroit: Wayne State University Press

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