People who heard the title for the first time might think it was a film about the former Soviet Union. But when you look at the synopsis and cast list, it's a movie about East Germany. Whenever people mention Germany in the past, the stories about the Nazis and Hitler are the ones that come to mind the most. And when people mention the former socialist countries, the most memorable ones are about the former Soviet Union and our motherland. One such country and system of government is always overlooked - East Germany (DDR), a member of the Warsaw Organization with a socialist system and a planned economy that has existed for forty years.
The film begins with a look back on home video, and then little Alex and little Ariana are watching live on TV of the Soviet Union's first flight into space. Among them was an East German astronaut named Sigmund Jahn, who was also the first German in space. This had a profound impact on Alex as a child, and left an important foreshadowing for the film. Under the circumstances of the Cold War at the time, the Soviet Union became the first socialist country to send humans into space. This major event lifted the spirits of the people of all socialist countries. In that era, apart from political belief and spiritual sustenance, the people of socialist countries were far behind European and American capitalist countries in terms of living conditions. East Germany and West Germany were the front lines of the ideological struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States, and the common people of East Germany Although life under the socialist system is not particularly comfortable, aerospace as a spiritual sustenance is one step ahead of the United States, which is also an important condition for maintaining an optimistic life in that difficult environment. As soon as the camera turned, the father, who had been under investigation by the Stasi (East German Security Ministry) for a long time, was informed that he ran to live with a third party in West Germany, and abandoned Alex in East Germany and his mother and sister. three people. As if she had been hit in the head, her mother fell into sadness and depression without saying a word. After eight weeks of treatment, she recovered and returned home. Little Alex "Cosplay" became a rocket to welcome her mother, and later launched a toy rocket with extracurricular craftsmanship. As an astronaut, you can see the impact of the space landing event on him. At this time, the mother seems to have changed a person, like remarried to the motherland. In addition to raising two children alone, she devoted herself to the cause of socialism, became a promoter of the progress of socialism, and went to the highest-level commendation conference in the country. Receive recognition.
Alex, who grew up in such a family environment, will inevitably not be affected, so that the influence is too subtle, and Alex did not find it later. As an adult, Alex works in a TV repair cooperative, and spends nothing but work roaming the streets or drinking and sleeping in at home. This also exposes the core problems of socialism: First, apart from maintaining political correctness and serious work, life is monotonous and boring, and the spirit and thought are empty. Second, socialism cannot avoid the unqualified and lazy people enjoying the welfare of the state without promoting social development and fulfilling their due obligations. In this passage, when Alex was fooled by his sister to take care of the child, the astronaut poster in the house was the poster of Sigmund Jahn in the real world.
Alex, who had a full meal at night, had the energy of a young man and had nowhere to vent. If he was in West Germany or a capitalist country, he would be consumed by all kinds of entertainment. After the reunification of Germany a few months later, for the first time Entering West Germany, I went to the pornographic tape room, and the other viewers were also people from East Germany. In the social environment of East Germany, he had to take an apple to the streets and "walk" with the parade people, and this was also the first step for Alex to become an idealist in the future. Alex choked on the apple while shouting slogans while eating an apple, when Alex's future girlfriend came over to help him beat his back. At this moment, Alex doesn't want to go to the parade and Apple, he just wants to know this girl, and he just wants to ask the girl's name. Suddenly military personnel came in to suppress the parade, and Alex was arrested before he finished speaking. Just when his mother came back from the highest-level national commendation conference, the mother who got out of the car saw that Alex was arrested, and suddenly suffered a myocardial infarction. Fainted to the ground.
Alex couldn't help his fallen mother, and was sent to the police station after a fat beating. Alex, who was detained in the police station, was released, and the person who released him took a photo and asked for his name. It is very likely that his mother released him through some kind of relationship. After being released, Alex rushed to the hospital and learned that his mother was in a coma because he missed the best time for rescue. At this time, Alex felt very guilty, and only he knew that his mother had a sudden illness because of him. While his mother was in a coma, Alex pondered his own life while experiencing the changes brought about by the disappearance of East Germany and the reunification of Germany. The younger sister gave up school and went to work at Burger King, and married her West German husband, who had been a class enemy at the time. As for the many changes around him, Alex actually has a negative attitude. For example, his sister redecorated the house and threw all the furniture out. One of the cabinets still kept all the savings of his mother. This was only later. knew. Alex, who went to work for a TV broadcaster company because of the disappearance of the TV repair cooperative, was the last person to leave the TV repair cooperative. Before turning off the lights, he had a lonely expression and said, "Mother doesn't know how labor heroes are unemployed. "
The above shots all show his reluctance to give up on socialism, or his disgust for capitalism, all of which show how Alex grew spiritually and mentally while his mother was in a coma, and was becoming an idealist . No matter how his spirit and mind grow, our protagonist Alex still knows that he has too much energy, and even looks at the calf exposed by the nurse's skirt when he is taking care of his mother in the hospital. The director captures the youth's psychology well in the whole film, and depicts it very realistically, just like throwing away the infusion tube of the mother in order to see the nurse's calf.
When Alex was at a loss, who knew that a blessing in disguise came in and the girl who passed by on the parade was working here as a nurse, a girl named Laura from Russia. And when the TV broadcast company was grouped, Alex said "I witnessed the early days of reunification", because one group was drawn from each group according to O and W, and O and W represented osten and westen, respectively, It's East and West German.
The male protagonist is also in a group with Domaske from West Germany. Because Domaske is from West Germany, he has seen many movies by major directors and taught himself to edit videos. This skill will play an important role in the film. effect. And the director used Domaske to show his admiration for Kubrick. Domaske edited a wedding video and showed Alex that it was an imitation of "2001: A Space Odyssey". After that, they arranged the home decoration of East Germany together. The director used the classic method of three people making love in "A Clockwork Orange", to Symphony as BGM, the fast-forward of the fixed shot completes the film. Including the male protagonist's name is also very similar to the male protagonist of "A Clockwork Orange".
And Alex and Laura went out on a date for the first time at a bar. Perhaps it is nothing new to modern people, and East Germany, which had just left socialism at the time, was definitely a new place. The two people passed through the crowd in fancy clothes, the loud music, the graffiti wall came to the roof to communicate life and enhance the relationship. One day in front of the mother's bed, when the two young people couldn't help kissing, the mother suddenly woke up. After his mother woke up, the doctor told Alex that his mother had some amnesia and could not suffer a second mental blow, that is, the German Democratic Republic that he had lived for forty years had become history, and the socialism that he had fought for his whole life was already gone. leave this place. As a son, Alex thought of sending his mother home for treatment and creating an East German environment for her, despite the opposition of those around her, even her own sister, Alex was determined to do so. Outside the ward, the younger sister even criticized the elder brother for being so unrealistic, which does not mean that the elder brother is an idealist.
Although capitalism covered East Germany overnight, Alex still wanted to live in East Germany, a former socialist country. Although he created a small world for his mother that still exists in East Germany, if he only has love and a sense of responsibility for his mother, he cannot create a small socialist world that is so close to the past. When I went to pick up my mother from the hospital again, the former attending doctor moved to West Germany, and when Alex saw the new attending doctor, he also told you when to flee to West Germany. This scene shows that Alex still believes in socialism, and feels that he is not an idealist to leave the place where he has lived for many years for a better life, just like his hated father.
In creating the GDR environment that has disappeared for his mother, there is a scene where Alex goes to the trash to find the old packaging to counterfeit the GDR products that no longer exist. It's getting to this point."
It can be seen from this that after the reunification of East Germany, many people were laid off and unemployed, including 170,000 East German soldiers, so many people had no time to adapt to the new life, and could only survive by picking up garbage. Like the second point I said about socialism before, high welfare can protect the unqualified and the lazy from starving. At this time, after capitalism came in, at the beginning of the reform, these people made a lot of money by opportunism. However, the people who used to work seriously in East German socialism have been laid off and returned home because of the dissolution of the reforming factory. For them, their former homeland was where the people held high the banner of socialism, and the people who were under socialism should help each other. But now, one dollar for milk and two dollars for bread, and without money, there is no dignity to live in the world. Even the aerospace hero in Alex's mind has been reduced to driving a taxi. Although this story is fictional, there are indeed many similar situations, and the director's change is for better dramatic conflict. In another scene, the mother forgot where she put her savings because of amnesia. Seeing that the currency exchange day was approaching, and the two brothers and sisters kept searching to no avail, the mother suddenly remembered to hide the money in the compartment of the cabinet. . Alex ran to find his mother's life savings among the discarded furniture. The next day, the two brothers and sisters took 30,000 East German currency (GDR Mark) to the bank to exchange. The staff refused on the grounds of exceeding the deadline and not exchanging cash. The male protagonist Alex yelled at him, "The money saved for forty years is now worthless just with a word from you bastards!" After that, Alex returned to the rooftop and ripped the East German currency Throwing it into the sky, and monologue in my heart: "The once heroic battleship is now riddled with holes", with girlfriend Laura laughing next to it, which is the best scene in the film in my mind.
This incident made Alex even more disgusted with the post-unification capitalist society and ruined his life, so he was more determined to protect the fake East German socialist environment he created for his mother, even when his girlfriends were against it. in the case of.
Before discovering the savings, it was Alex who always wanted to hold a birthday party in the form of East Germany for his mother. It used to be voluntary for primary school students to come to sing. Now I ask a primary school student to give 20 yuan marks, and after the birthday party, the primary school students once again I came to sing, this time it was voluntary, because the elementary school students still wanted 20 yuan marks, and Alex was so angry that he was angry. The director also expressed the influence of capitalism on children in this plot, because singing can earn 20 yuan, so he voluntarily ran over to sing to make money again. The former soul engineer and the principal of the school is now unemployed and drinking at home every day. In Alex's eyes, this person is so unfamiliar and completely different from the former principal. How much has changed in this form of de-socialization people's lives. The curtains, which were suddenly blown by the wind, let my mother see the Coca-Cola advertisement in the building opposite. Because Coca-Cola was an American-made drink, it never appeared in the Soviet-dominated GDR.
In order to solve this unexpected situation, Alex and Dominsk created a fake news program together, and Alex, who was sitting at the entrance of the Coca-Cola building, looked at the sky and suddenly understood: "The so-called truth has no reliability. .” Whether it is East Germany or West Germany, all political propaganda is the same as what he perceives, how can it be reliable in terms of artificial production?
Alex's mother suddenly wants to move to the country cottage, while the family is reunited on the grass. The mother suddenly told an astonishing secret: the father did not cheat and fled to West Germany, but the couple, under the pressure of the political environment, agreed to illegally evacuate to West Germany with the child, and the mother did not take the child because she was afraid. , and hide all letters. Alex couldn't accept this reality, as if the previous experience was so fake, more fake than the socialist environment he created for his mother. The mother fainted again due to excessive mental fluctuations and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor told Alex that nine times out of ten, the mother would die this time. I remembered that my mother said that she wanted to see her ex-husband again. Taking the address found by her sister, she stopped a taxi at the entrance of the hospital to find her father. At this time, Alex, who was sitting in the back row, found that the driver looked a lot like Sigmund Jahn, the aerospace hero in his childhood. When he didn't know what to say, the driver said that it didn't look like it, but it was proof. He is the space hero. Two worlds that were once separated by a Berlin Wall for so many years are now just a taxi ride away. How many families have been separated by this wall for forty years, and now it is so easy to enter the chassis of what used to be called class enemies. Now there are still some walls left in Berlin as historical relics. I think a concrete wall does not actually separate intelligent human beings. The real wall is in people's minds, in people's hearts, in people's concepts, so these walls divide Originally a whole country. When I came to my father's mansion, I had no intention of walking into my father's children's recreation room in the West German family. Alex found that what was playing on the TV was East German cartoons Sleeping God and Masha playing astronauts, just as children and Alex called astronauts differently, showing that although the country is unified, the two different environments Differences in growing people. When the father saw Alex, he knew that his former socialist wife was critically ill, and he went to the ward to visit him at the request of his son to keep East Germany intact. And on the way back to the hospital, Alex asked Sigmund Jahn, a former aerospace hero and now a taxi driver, a question he had wanted to know since he was a child: "How does it feel to be up there?" The driver answered him that the universe is very Beautiful, but far from home.
Alex looks at the world out of the car window, I think it's a knife of reality stabbed at one of his idealists. His father, who once thought he was lured away by West Germany's capitalism, actually had other secrets. He had been worshipped as an aerospace hero since he was a child. Now he drives a taxi and has to work hard to support his family. Who still remembers his former glory? After all East Germany and socialism are gone. And Alex's life is very much like the answer of a taxi driver who was once a space hero, but changed to "The ideal is beautiful, but it is too far from home." Even if the small world of East German socialism created for his mother is no longer How seamless, but it is fake after all, too far from the reality of real life. But no matter what, for the sake of his mother or his own ideals, Alex finally prepared to create a finale for the play. He asked his good friend Dominsk and the former space hero to help, and the most ironic thing is that Alex bought all the former uniforms and medals at the flea market. In the former socialist country of East Germany, these things symbolized incomparable glory. But now the political beliefs have changed, and these things are like trash. It's just that the medal itself is only made of metal, and it is the meaning that people give it, so it can show its value. Now, with the departure of socialism, those values are also worthless. When Alex arrives at the hospital after making the tape, there is a scene where Alex's girlfriend Laura is telling his mother all the truth. I find this practice annoying to me personally, even though her thoughts are good, I hope Mother Alex can see the real truth. But she ignored Alex's efforts to create an environment that didn't exist, and didn't think that maybe he wanted to live in an environment that used to exist but doesn't exist now. So I've always been Alex is an idealist, he likes the socialist environment he used to live in, but he doesn't reject emerging ideas as a young man. Living a socialist-style life in a capitalist world may be the "ideal country" he really wants, although it seems that there is no such country now. But Marx also said, "Socialism must be based on the highly developed productive forces of capitalism." And it is precisely because Alex did not grow up in a capitalist environment that he made the idea of creating a dream. Just like the sons and daughters in the news abusing the sick elderly, because they are afraid that they will not be able to find a job when they are old, they have to take time off every day to take care of the elderly. And Alex's mother was still in socialism when she fainted, so medically speaking Should be free of charge. Otherwise, the salary of the two brothers and sisters is definitely not enough, and they have never thought about using their mother's savings, so there is a story of looking for a passbook when exchanging currency.
Taking the space hero Sigmund Jahn in his childhood as the new leader of East Germany and giving a speech to open the border is the best ending that Alex can think of for his mother, and it can also be said to be his ideal ending. When the "fake news" was broadcast on the TV in the ward, everyone's psychological state was different. The sister and girlfriend couldn't even stop laughing because they knew it was a fake and outrageously fake story that would never happen, like a comedy. But Alex looked intently and smiled. Maybe it's because the "Fake Ending of East Germany" he made was the "end" he wanted, or maybe it was because he worked hard to help his mother have the best dream during this period of time, her East Germany and socialism still still exists. And the mother was not watching TV the whole time, indicating that she already knew the truth, otherwise she would not be so calm to watch this great historical moment. She looked at her son affectionately, and his efforts for all this were enough to make her gratified. She saw her son's growth, and the most important thing was that she saw that although East Germany and its socialism had disappeared, the spirit still existed. The son's body is growing. Three days later, when her mother died, Alex placed her mother's ashes in a toy rocket he made as a child. When it was lit and flew into the sky and turned into fireworks, Alex thought at this moment "She's somewhere up there. Drifting down, maybe looking down at us, just like Sigmund Jahn at the time, watching We have become a small point on the earth." I personally think that Alex has become a real idealist at this moment, otherwise he would not choose this way to end, or he can use the traditional East German way for this Made up dreams have a final ending. As he said, I do not regret doing these things for my mother, because my mother is very happy, because East Germany is my mother's life and my mother's belief. And he kept it all until his mother's last moment.
The film ends at this moment, and you may not have seen what I said about Lenin in "Goodbye Lenin"? In the end there is no appearance, only once in the whole film. It was when Alex's mother was walking down the road while he was dozing, looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, when a helicopter flew over the sky with a dismantled Lenin statue, watching Lenin stretch out his right hand and hug it with his left. A book flew over from far to near, and left from near to far. How did the Lenin thought of the Soviet Union come to Germany? Because of the fall of Nazi Germany, the United States and the Soviet Union controlled West Germany and East Germany respectively. Before that, it was the Weimar Republic, and then it was the German Empire. Alex's mother was born in Nazi Germany, lived in the GDR, and died in the Federal Republic of Germany. The political beliefs changed with the government system and the social environment changed with the political beliefs, ordinary people can only stand in the same place and feel confused about the future like Alex's mother.
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