Old Times and New in “Goodbye, Lenin!”

Old Times and fresh in Wolfgang Beckers Goodbye, Lenin There argon many themes in Goodbye, Lenin The most axiomatic is the contrast between the of age(predicate) quantify and the impertinent and the question of nostalgia or embracement the past. Two stabs which show this theme includes the prognosis when the briny characters drop, Christiane, asks Alex (the main character) for some Spreewald gherkins. The second is when Christiane ventures after-school(prenominal) and sees each(prenominal) the changes that have affect easternmost Germany since the abound of the Berlin Wall.The story unf venerables in the year followers the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989. horse parsley Kerner constructs the GDR in one room of his familys flatbed in East Berlin for his dumbfound who has recently woken up from a coma. His mother, Christiane Kerner, has experience nothing of the lush events of 1989-1990. When she regains consciousness the have-to doe with tells Alex tha t she will not survive some other heart attack and to keep her inspiration levels at a low.Alex decides to keep the events of the furthermost year a secret and so keeps the one-time(a) GDR alive in their apartment. Alex uses overbearing disinformation to manipulate his mothers beliefs. angiotensin-converting enzyme day, Christiane asks Alex for some Spreewald gherkins, her favourite. Unfortunately, the shops have got rid of their East German products. As he walks roughly the supermarket all Alex sees are jars of pickles from Holland. These foods were produced and sold in the old East Germany where often it was unimaginable to produce enough to meet demand.The director, Wolfgang Becker, juxtaposes shots which compares both(prenominal) systems of government (the old and the tender). The supermarket shelves have been invaded by new brands from Holland and the rest of the globe. The differences between the cardinal halves of the city are highlighted by a montage sequence whe re we see in bland colours the empty shelves of old East Berlin supermarkets. A single, defrosting, bloody chicken lies at the bottom of a grand freezer this shot is juxtaposed with the spirited colours of the brightly packaged goods on the shelves of shops in the new Berlin.These images in this injection shows the contrast and lacking that both the old and the new both have. The second scene which portrays the theme of old and new is when Christiane ventures outside of the apartment into Berlin. For Christiane, venturing out into the real world means that she must confront this new world around her. For Alex, it means confronting the lies that he has been telling to build up the imaginary number world in the apartment. Christiane has to face the changes that have been made in the past eld and must see the new.She gazes upon the sights for the first beat West Germans travel into the apartment building, the new western vehicles, and of word form the statue of Lenin. Good B ye, Lenin is a thematically fertile film, delving into politics, family dynamics, and, most especially, the contrast between the old and the new. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a tumultuous event for East Germany, triggering rapid changes in every aspect of the lives of the people who lived there.Overnight, the delivery would be transformed from a collectivised system to a capitalist one, horse opera consumer goods and ideas would come flooding in, and people could play along freely into the Western sector of the city. In these scenes we see the influence of the new on the old. We see Alex trying to keep his mother in the old East Germany by creating a world in their apartment with everything from the old GDR. Christiane eventually ventures outside and sees the new Germany and comes out of this experience with new carriage and understanding.