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Goodbye Lenin, hello GDR that never was.(Vladimir Lenin)(German Democratic Republic)(Critical essay)
- Article from:
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West Virginia University Philological Papers
- Article date:
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September 22, 2006
- Author:
- Asmus, Kareen
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2006 West Virginia University, Department of Foreign Languages. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Two films, which were made thirty years apart, try to come to terms with daily life in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. One film was produced in the former East Germany and the other in the reunified Germany: Die Legende von Paul und Paula (dir. Heiner Carow, 1973) and Good Bye, Lenin! (dir. Wolfgang Becket, 2003). The German Democratic Republic (GDR), like other Soviet-dominated socialist regimes of its time, pledged freedom from the chains of capitalism and fascism, yet frowned at the same time upon all forms of spontaneous self-expression. Only films adhering to the specific credo of Socialist Realism were acceptable. (1)
While only marginally known in the West, among ...