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Good Bye, Lenin!

367 statements
71 feature instances
41 referencing feature instances

Good Bye, Lenin!	type	TVTItem
Good Bye, Lenin!	label	Good Bye, Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin!	page	GoodbyeLenin
Good Bye, Lenin!	comment	Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the young East German Alexander Kerner's dedicated Communist mother, Christiane, sees her son in an anti-government demonstration and falls into a coma due to a heart attack. When she awakens eight months later, the doctors tell Alexander that his mother cannot abide a new shock. Alexander therefore orchestrates an elaborate ruse, complete with fake television programs, to keep his bed-ridden mother from finding out that the GDR is gone.Good Bye, Lenin! is a German bittersweet comedy from 2003, directed by Wolfgang Becker and starring Daniel Brühl. Has a lot of subtle humor, playing on the feeling of shell-shock many East Germans felt upon being catapulted into the capitalist world and the almost overnight disappearance of their country. Many of the visual clues might be easy to miss for people not familiar with the common cliches about the GDR. The film also was Brühl's Star-Making Role.
Good Bye, Lenin!	fetched	2023-08-16T03:14:54Z
Good Bye, Lenin!	parsed	2023-08-16T03:14:54Z
Good Bye, Lenin!	processingComment	Dropped link to AClockworkOrange: Not a Feature - ITEM
Good Bye, Lenin!	processingComment	Dropped link to GermanHumor: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Good Bye, Lenin!	processingComment	Dropped link to TheMatrix: Not a Feature - ITEM
Good Bye, Lenin!	processingUnknown	GermanHumor
Good Bye, Lenin!	isPartOf	DBTropes
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1086f287	type	Sure, Let's Go with That
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1086f287	comment	Sure, Let's Go with That: If the cabbie isn't the real Sigmund Jähn, he seems to be going along with the idea of being Jähn to humour a clearly-distraught young man.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1086f287	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1086f287	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1086f287
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1869b4b1	type	Unreliable Narrator
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1869b4b1	comment	Unreliable Narrator The film hints that for Alex’s family life in East Germany was not so idyllic and that Christiane may not have been the enthusiastic communist that Alex remembers. During the prologue it is stated that Alex’s father fled to West Germany. This was a serious crime in the GDR and could have dire consequences for the family of the defector. Alex’s mother is briefly seen while she is interrogated by two men implied to be agents of The Stasi. She suffers a mental breakdown shortly after and only after that she devotes herself completely to Socialism. When Alex enrolls Christiane’s former school director in his charade, they mention the fact that she was purged for being “too idealistic”, an euphemism used in countries behind the Iron Curtain for a member of the Communist Party who was unable to resist the urge to hold his superiors to account for their hypocrisy. One of Christiane’s main activities is helping friends and neighbors to write protest letters. When we finally hear her dictating one in its entirety it is a sarcastic scolding of the Party’s tendency to overplan and blame the people for its own mistakes and shortcomings. And finally there is the big reveal at the end.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1869b4b1	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1869b4b1	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1869b4b1
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_18d15922	type	Title Drop
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_18d15922	comment	Title Drop: Of the rare visual kind in the mentioned statue scene.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_18d15922	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_18d15922	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_18d15922
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1bc2e445	type	End of an Age
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1bc2e445	comment	End of an Age: As indicated by the title, the end of communism in Europe.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1bc2e445	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1bc2e445	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_1bc2e445
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_20e2a53b	type	Notice This
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_20e2a53b	comment	Notice This: After the Wall comes down, Ariane gets rid of the old furniture in the apartment by marking it with red stickers, one of which the camera has a closeup on as she puts it on a set of drawers. It turns out to be the location of their life savings.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_20e2a53b	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_20e2a53b	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_20e2a53b
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_257ff2e7	type	Maintain the Lie
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_257ff2e7	comment	Maintain the Lie: What begins as a simple attempt to prevent Christiane from knowing that the Wall fell "takes on a life of its own" and has to be developed into an elaborate ruse, even to the point of making use of Alex's friend and colleague Denis' passion for film-making to create fake news reports (some of which are clearly ridiculous, but imitate the Real Life propaganda) to explain away reality.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_257ff2e7	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_257ff2e7	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_257ff2e7
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_26eb6287	type	Funny Background Event
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_26eb6287	comment	Funny Background Event: While attending a punk party in an abandoned building, Alex and Lana find a quiet room that has been thrashed and painted entirely in black-and-white to sit down to have a chat. Over the course of the whole scene, neither of them take notice of the man who is painted like the room and is just sitting on a couch behind them with a Thousand-Yard Stare.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_26eb6287	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_26eb6287	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_26eb6287
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_27e9edc	type	Undercrank
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_27e9edc	comment	Undercrank: Setting up Mom's sickroom.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_27e9edc	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_27e9edc	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_27e9edc
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_28cd01ca	type	Disappeared Dad
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_28cd01ca	comment	Disappeared Dad: Subverted. At the beginning of the film it is explained that Alex's father abandoned his family when he was a child and fled to West Germany with his western mistress. However, this turns out as a lie that his mother told him. His father wanted to flee with his family and it was Alex's mother who decided to stay at the last moment.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_28cd01ca	featureApplicability	-0.3
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_28cd01ca	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_28cd01ca
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_2de02182	type	Visual Title Drop
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_2de02182	comment	Visual Title Drop: One shot shows a statue of Vladimir Lenin being hauled away by an aerial crane. The statue of Lenin showed him raising his hand in a dramatic gesture, so when the tilted sculpture passes by Christiane, he appears to be waving goodbye.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_2de02182	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_2de02182	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_2de02182
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_315a122	type	Hospital Hottie
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_315a122	comment	Hospital Hottie: Lara, the nurse with whom Alex begins a relationship.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_315a122	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_315a122	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_315a122
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_36406c28	type	In the Original Klingon
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_36406c28	comment	In the Original Klingon: One of the fake newscasts claims that proof has been discovered to demonstrate that Coca-Cola was invented in East Germany. Even Christiane isn't completely fooled as she knew it existed before the war.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_36406c28	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_36406c28	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_36406c28
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_367f2530	type	Outdated Outfit
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_367f2530	comment	Outdated Outfit: Played with. To keep the ruse going, it is required for any guests to take off their Capitalist Germany clothes and replace them with Communist Germany Outdated Outfits.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_367f2530	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_367f2530	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_367f2530
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_3a05ecaf	type	Toppled Statue
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_3a05ecaf	comment	Toppled Statue: A symbolic scene in which an old statue of Lenin is being flown away by a helicopter.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_3a05ecaf	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_3a05ecaf	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_3a05ecaf
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_447b77a5	type	"Fawlty Towers" Plot
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_447b77a5	comment	"Fawlty Towers" Plot: "Don't mention the Wall!"
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_447b77a5	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_447b77a5	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_447b77a5
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4ae4e6e1	type	Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4ae4e6e1	comment	Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Denis shows Alex the wedding video he has edited in the style of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Alex does not get the reference - having never seen the original film. Later, when the Kerners, Lara, and Rainer are driving through the countryside, they start singing a song in Russian which they all know, but which Rainer (a westerner) doesn't.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4ae4e6e1	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4ae4e6e1	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4ae4e6e1
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4c3f14e0	type	You Are Too Late
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4c3f14e0	comment	You Are Too Late: After Alex and Ariane finally find their family's life-savings, totaling 30,000 Ostmark, the bank teller informs them that they are past the deadline and are unable to exchange them for West German Marks. Not only that, but the bank wouldn't have accepted cash anyway.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4c3f14e0	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4c3f14e0	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4c3f14e0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4db42cf3	type	Male Frontal Nudity
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4db42cf3	comment	Male Frontal Nudity: Rainer, after Alex says that they need to take down the new blinds while he was in a tanning bed.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4db42cf3	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4db42cf3	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_4db42cf3
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_51974a43	type	Storefront Television Display
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_51974a43	comment	Storefront Television Display: Alex and his co-workers watch Erich Honecker's resignation speech on several televisions in the TV repair shop they work in.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_51974a43	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_51974a43	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_51974a43
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52488c54	type	Drowning My Sorrows
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52488c54	comment	Drowning My Sorrows: We first see Alex as a young man with a bottle of beer in his hand.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52488c54	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52488c54	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52488c54
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52f2c74c	type	Mating Dance
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52f2c74c	comment	Mating Dance: Alex walks in on Ariane and Rainer doing this during his mother's coma period, narrating it as "Rainer's enthusuiasm for the ways and tradition of the Orient" (namely, Ariane in a belly dancer outfit, whilst he's in his underwear), before apologising and leaving them to it.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52f2c74c	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52f2c74c	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_52f2c74c
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_53f8ebb4	type	The Driver
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_53f8ebb4	comment	The Driver: The cab driver who may or may not have been Sigmund Jähn.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_53f8ebb4	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_53f8ebb4	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_53f8ebb4
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_56515a39	type	Artistic License â€“ History
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_56515a39	comment	Artistic License – History: The cab driver, if he really is supposed to be Sigmund Jähn. In real life, Jähn managed to work as a freelance consultant for the German Aerospace Center (DLR) following reunification in 1990, prior to which he was in the East German army where he had risen to the rank of Major General. In short, it's very unlikely he'd be that down on his luck. People in most of the GDR's territory could actually watch Western television with no consequences, so it's unlikely that East Berliners would be that uninformed about various vices of capitalist society. Regions at the extreme northeast and southeast of the GDR—where Western broadcasts were not accessible due to their remoteness from the West—were referred to as the Valley of the Clueless within the GDR itself. Surprisingly, there was more recorded dissatisfaction with the regime in these areas, perhaps because their residents could dismiss all the negative information about the West fed to them by the government as propaganda.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_56515a39	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_56515a39	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_56515a39
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_59bdc823	type	Pants-Free
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_59bdc823	comment	Pants-Free: While filming a fake news segment, Denis is not wearing any pants under the "news desk."
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_59bdc823	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_59bdc823	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_59bdc823
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5a3b8032	type	The Un-Reveal
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5a3b8032	comment	The Unreveal: Just who is that cabbie? note Very unlikely to be the real Sigmund Jähn, who by then was already working as a freelance consultant for the German Aerospace Centre or DLR. This could be Artistic License, however, assuming he is "meant" to be Jähn in-story.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5a3b8032	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5a3b8032	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5a3b8032
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5ce7dbb9	type	Central Theme
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5ce7dbb9	comment	Central Theme: The world around you can change faster than you wish, but you have to try and make the most of it.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5ce7dbb9	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5ce7dbb9	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_5ce7dbb9
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_630910ba	type	Finger-Twitching Revival
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_630910ba	comment	Finger-Twitching Revival: Mom awakes from her coma.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_630910ba	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_630910ba	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_630910ba
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6636a549	type	Remembered Too Late
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6636a549	comment	Remembered Too Late: When Alex and his sister ask their mother for her bank information so they can change her soon to be useless money for the Deutsche Mark, she says she actually hid it away, but can't remember where. Later in the movie she remembers she hid it in the old furniture they threw away, but when they tried to change it, they were told the cut-off date expired two days before.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6636a549	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6636a549	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6636a549
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_67b24bc8	type	Why We Are Bummed: Communism Fell
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_67b24bc8	comment	Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: And how it affected some people more than others. TV repairman Alex fairly quickly finds a better job as a satellite dish installer and his sister, finding her pursuit of a degree in Marxist-Leninist economics suddenly obsolete, gets a job at Burger King, but several neighbors in their 50s are unemployed with no prospects. Even East German cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn seems to have ended up as a cab driver after the fall of communism.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_67b24bc8	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_67b24bc8	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_67b24bc8
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6b2b3b59	type	The Reveal
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6b2b3b59	comment	And finally there is the big reveal at the end.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6b2b3b59	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6b2b3b59	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6b2b3b59
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6cac9d40	type	National Anthem
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6cac9d40	comment	National Anthem: The East German anthem "Risen from Ashes" plays while Alex shows his final fake news video to his mother.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6cac9d40	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6cac9d40	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_6cac9d40
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_72528764	type	Unbroken Vigil
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_72528764	comment	Unbroken Vigil: Alex is seen falling asleep while watching over his comatose mother in hospital.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_72528764	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_72528764	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_72528764
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_744e3311	type	Police Brutality
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_744e3311	comment	Police Brutality: Early in the film we see a protest (in which Alex is participating and first meets Lara) being brutally suppressed by police, despite the protestors' pleas for "Keine Gewalt!" ("No violence!") which (after seeing her son being arrested) triggers Christiane's heart attack.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_744e3311	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_744e3311	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_744e3311
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_7eebe99c	type	The Alcoholic
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_7eebe99c	comment	The Alcoholic: Klapprath, the former principal of the school where Christiane taught, is shown as having been driven to drink. Presumably he didn't take the changes (and enforced retirement) too well.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_7eebe99c	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_7eebe99c	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_7eebe99c
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_82a631b8	type	Present-Day Past
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_82a631b8	comment	Present-Day Past: Some of the western brand products are in contemporary (with respect to the making of the film) rather than circa-1990 packaging. Subverted by the Matrix-esque T-shirt Denis wears in one scene, which is explained in deleted footage as an idea in the making as well as giving nods to the simulated reality Alex's mother is kept in.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_82a631b8	featureApplicability	-0.3
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_82a631b8	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_82a631b8
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_83856158	type	Worthless Yellow Rocks
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_83856158	comment	Worthless Yellow Rocks: Inverted. While looking through an abandoned apartment, Alex is amazed to find Tempo Beans, Mocca Fix Gold, Globus Green Peas, and other East German foodstuffs that he had been unable to find anywhere. He's also able to buy a number of East German clothes, including a military uniform laden with medals, from a street market. Truth in Television, as there are numerous stalls in Berlin where you can buy East German and Soviet clothes, hats, medals, and other memorabilia.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_83856158	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_83856158	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_83856158
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_875615dd	type	Truth in Television
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_875615dd	comment	He's also able to buy a number of East German clothes, including a military uniform laden with medals, from a street market. Truth in Television, as there are numerous stalls in Berlin where you can buy East German and Soviet clothes, hats, medals, and other memorabilia.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_875615dd	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_875615dd	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_875615dd
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_916c72b3	type	Rule of Symbolism
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_916c72b3	comment	Rule of Symbolism: The iconic scene of the statue of Lenin being taken away by helicopter, his outstretched arm pointing to Christiane as if sending a final farewell. The scene where a ceremonial changing-of-the-guard is dwarfed by a fleet of Coca-Cola trucks driving past, symbolising the diminishing power of the once-almighty totalitarian state in the face of capitalism. There are a number of visual gags demonstrating how strange, overwhelming, and possibly ridiculous-looking capitalism must have been to someone who grew up under socialism: When Alex first crosses the border, he heads straight for a nearby adult video store. Cue clip playing on an overhead screen of a porn actress pouring whipped cream onto her ridiculously enlarged breasts. The drab, emptying corner store where Alex fails to buy Spreewald gherkins, reopens with shelves full of Western products, celebratory decorations... and a person wearing a funny bird costume. When Christiane goes outside for the first time, new neighbours moving in from West Germany bring with them a whole host of Western-style furniture and decor, including a fuzzy pink lampshade.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_916c72b3	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_916c72b3	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_916c72b3
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_953a8ee8	type	Age Cut
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_953a8ee8	comment	Age Cut: Alex is a student launching a model rocket in school. The camera pans up as the rocket launches and pans down to find Alex 10 years older.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_953a8ee8	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_953a8ee8	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_953a8ee8
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_96a33f11	type	Riddle for the Ages
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_96a33f11	comment	Riddle for the Ages: Two show up in the film: Did Lara tell Alex's mother the truth during the emotional conversation between them that the audience sees through the window? Was the Taxi driver really Sigmund Jähn?
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_96a33f11	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_96a33f11	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_96a33f11
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9c73b5b2	type	Let Them Die Happy
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9c73b5b2	comment	Let Them Die Happy: Sort of (but not exactly in the way Alexander intends).
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9c73b5b2	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9c73b5b2	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9c73b5b2
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9dfb8296	type	This Is Gonna Suck
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9dfb8296	comment	This Is Gonna Suck: Alex and Denis have to carry the bedroom furniture to the eighth floor of the apartment building because the elevator is broken.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9dfb8296	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9dfb8296	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_9dfb8296
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a4a91366	type	It's All Junk
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a4a91366	comment	It's All Junk: Played with. The old, East German furniture that they threw out turns out to be the hiding place of their life savings. Later, the money is worthless because the family missed the cut-off to exchange them for West German Marks.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a4a91366	featureApplicability	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a4a91366	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a4a91366
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a60e3252	type	Rule of Funny
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a60e3252	comment	Rule of Funny: Alex's quest to find Spreewaldgurken for Christiane. In reality, they were one of the few East German products that were available without interruption during and after reunification. You can still buy them today in most German supermarkets. But it helps underline that their supermarket has literally changed overnight.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a7382a73	type	Imagine Spot
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a7382a73	comment	Imagine Spot: After Ariane says that she saw their father, Alex imagines him as a morbidly obese man living in a mansion with a pool.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a86069f	type	Alternate History
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a86069f	comment	Alternate History: In-Universe. Alexander, along with his friends and family, sets up an elaborate alternate history where East Germany ends up dominant over West Germany to hide the truth from his mother. He finally shows her a conclusion in which Germany gets reunified, but not through East Germany being reabsorbed by West Germany; instead the Bonn Republic is dissolved and its people become citizens of the GDR!
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a864d2d8	type	Commie Land
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a864d2d8	comment	Commie Land: Or rather, the transition from this.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_a864d2d8	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: Alex when his mother asks for some Spreewaldgurken, her favorite pickles, as practically all East German brands have been replaced by Western foodstuffs. Any time Alex notices a sign of West Germany within proximity of his mother's bedroom. The first is when their neighbor is watching ARD's Tagesschau, causing Christiane to wonder why he is watching West German television. And then there's the Coca-Cola banner. He gets another when he realizes his mother has gotten out of bed and left the apartment.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ad1db87c	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: Alex, particularly in the narration. Ariane and Rainer occasionally throw it back at him.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ae3d6438	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b1b48ad1	type	Foreign Language Title
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b1b48ad1	comment	Foreign Language Title: Uses the English "Goodbye" instead of the German "Auf Wiedersehen". This gets a gag in one scene, which shows a (real) headline from the fall of the Wall saying, Mach's gut, Deutschland! ("Goodbye, Germany!")
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b5c47a93	type	A Degree in Useless
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b5c47a93	comment	A Degree in Useless: Ariane's studying of "economic theory" (presumably of a Marxist-Leninist sort) is something she clearly saw as useless in a now-capitalist environment- so she quits whilst she's ahead and gets a job at the very capitalist Burger King.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b5c47a93	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b8259a3b	type	Dumpster Dive
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b8259a3b	comment	Dumpster Dive: Alex discovers that most of the old product brands have been replaced by imports from the west so he searches dumpsters for jars with the old labels. He cleans the jars and puts the food into them so his mother never knows that they are actually eating food imported from the capitalist world. The one exception being pickles from Holland, as Alex could not find the label for Spreewald gherkins.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_b8259a3b	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c3075178	type	Filth
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c3075178	comment	Filth: When the Wall comes down, Alex and several other East Germans walk over to West Berlin to see for themselves what the West is like. He's astounded to see a store where graphic porn films are being sold.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c3075178	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c3c18143	type	Hope Spot
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c3c18143	comment	Hope Spot: Alex gives a triumphant howl when he finds the family's life savings in their old drawers. It then cuts to them learning that they missed the exchange deadline.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c3c18143	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: A subtle but meaningful anachronism: Alex's partner-in-fake-newscasts Denis Domaschke is seen several times wearing a T-shirt from The Matrix, another movie about an artificial re-creation of a world that no longer exists. (It's only anachronistic in the final cut of the movie, though: a deleted scene expains that Denis has an idea for a film that is essentially exactly the same as The Matrix, which is why he's wearing that shirt.) The fast-forward scene where they put Alex's mother's bedroom together while William Tell Overture plays, is a clear nod to a similar scene in A Clockwork Orange.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c75df49a	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c819533b	type	Rage Breaking Point
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c819533b	comment	Rage-Breaking Point: Near the end of the film, Ariane tosses down cups and silverware in their kitchen. She's actually doing it to find the letters from their father, which Christiane had hidden, but the emotional stress of the entire charade and her mother's worsening condition have also caught up with her.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_c819533b	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_cc4b45f6	type	Word of God
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_cc4b45f6	comment	Word of God is that Ariane works at Burger King because they were much easier to work with in terms of filming and use of trade dress than McDonald's.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_cc4b45f6	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_d848560f	type	Unusual Euphemism
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_d848560f	comment	Unusual Euphemism: Alex refers to the fall of the Berlin Wall as a "recycling campaign," and the mass emigration of East Germans to the West as people failing to return from "vacations in Hungary," among others. The "vacations in Hungary" comment is a reference to actual events - Hungary liberalised its politics and reduced security at its border several months before the fall of the Wall, leading to many East Germans, who were allowed to visit Hungary, going there specifically so that they could cross the border into Austria and escape to the West, oftentimes after meeting up with family members from the West in Hungary (as Westerners were allowed to visit Hungary too).
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_e0aed924	type	No Antagonist
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_e0aed924	comment	No Antagonist: Since the conflict centers around the upheaval caused by German reunification and the fall of communism. The closest thing to villains are the East German cops that beat Alex up at the protest in the beginning.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_e50987a9	type	Reconstruction
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_e50987a9	comment	Reconstruction: Yes, Communism was not a really great thing and most of the GDR former citizens are happy about the change, but, some find themselves without a job and the old organization was providing for everyone, even if very limited. Simply put, going from communism to capitalism is a massive shift that some people aren't really prepared for and doesn't give everybody benefits.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_e50987a9	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ea51fa45	type	I Never Got Any Letters
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ea51fa45	comment	I Never Got Any Letters: The mother reveals that she has been lying to Alex about his father. He didn't go to West Germany with a woman and he did write letters. Ariane later finds all of the old letters from her father and cries as she reads them.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ed503b22	type	Match Cut
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ed503b22	comment	Match Cut: Discussed by Alex's aspiring filmmaker friend Denis.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ed503b22	featureConfidence	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f06b07ff	type	Locked Out of the Loop
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f06b07ff	comment	Locked Out of the Loop: The entire plot is based on locking Alex' mother out of the loop. Later, it's Alex that has to be locked out of the loop, and slightly before that we discover that Alex and his sister were locked out of the loop for over a decade by their mother. Then there also is the over-arching theme of the GDR's entire population having been locked out of the loop, and now having understandable trouble adjusting to it.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f197c220	type	Burger Fool
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f197c220	comment	Burger Fool: With her economics degree rendered useless by the fall of Communism and having to raise a daughter, Ariane is forced to take a job at Burger King in order to make ends meet.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f210d3d7	type	Magnum Opus
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f210d3d7	comment	Magnum Opus: Denis describes his final news segment as "his best work yet," and says it's a shame that only Christiane will see it.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f237981e	type	The Alleged Car
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f237981e	comment	The Alleged Car: The family's acquisition of a Trabant after "just" 3 years' wait- a sky-blue wagon, no less- is a plot point.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f511ea9b	type	Product Placement
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f511ea9b	comment	Product Placement: Essential to the story; particularly well-handled when the big red banner being lowered on the building across Karl-Marx-Allee from mom's bedroom window turns out to be a Coca-Cola ad. Word of God is that Ariane works at Burger King because they were much easier to work with in terms of filming and use of trade dress than McDonald's.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f6b70c98	type	Strongly Worded Letter
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f6b70c98	comment	One of Christiane’s main activities is helping friends and neighbors to write protest letters. When we finally hear her dictating one in its entirety it is a sarcastic scolding of the Party’s tendency to overplan and blame the people for its own mistakes and shortcomings.
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_f6b70c98	featureApplicability	1.0
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_fc47c7f9	type	The Future Is Shocking
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_fc47c7f9	comment	The Future Is Shocking: A variation occurs (no actual time travel, but East Germany was in a sort of stasis) — after the Berlin Wall falls, the protagonist goes to see West Germany and instantly encounters a TV with porn on. Given how shocking the experience is for him, he reasons that it will be even worse for his mother, leading him to construct his elaborate ruse.
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Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ffad4e9f	type	Shown Their Work
Good Bye, Lenin! / int_ffad4e9f	comment	Shown Their Work: The filmmakers did one hell of a job in getting the props correct for the fake-out East Germany. Alex comes upon some bewildered Northern Vietnamese men dressed in white tank tops. Starting from the 1950s, East Germany and North Vietnam, both communist countries, began an exchange program for Vietnamese students to receive education and training overseas. The white tank tops are stereotypical clothing worn at home for Vietnamese men of that age group.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

GoodByeLenin	sameAs	Good Bye, Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	A Degree in Useless / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Batman in My Basement / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Celebrity Survivor / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Chummy Commies / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Convenient Coma / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Discriminate and Switch / int_6b5d1be3
EastGermany	seeAlso	Good Bye, Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Excited Show Title! / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Faked Rip Van Winkle / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	"Fawlty Towers" Plot / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Filth / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Finger-Twitching Revival / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Foreign Language Title / int_6f378003
Goodbye Lenin	seeAlso	Good Bye, Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Hollywood Cop Uniform / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	I Never Got Any Letters / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	In the Original Klingon / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	It Will Never Catch On / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Let Them Die Happy / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Letting Her Hair Down / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Locked Out of the Loop / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Maintain the Lie / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Matrix Raining Code / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Meet Cute / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Modesty Bedsheet / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Nostalgia Filter / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Outdated Outfit / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Remembered Too Late / int_6f378003
Sandmaennchen	seeAlso	Good Bye, Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Slept Through the Apocalypse / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Storefront Television Display / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	The Driver / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Toppled Statue / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Travelling Salesman Montage / int_6f378003
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Unbroken Vigil / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Visual Title Drop / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Walls of Tyranny / int_6b5d1be3
Good Bye, Lenin!	hasFeature	Why We Are Bummed: Communism Fell / int_6f378003
Yann Tiersen (Music)	seeAlso	Good Bye, Lenin!
AktuelleKamera	seeAlso	Good Bye, Lenin!

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