Good Bye, Lenin
 

Was wondering if there were any other versions of this on DVD other than the German release which, alas, has no English subtitles.

I'm DYING to see this film -- sounds wonderful, and is winding up on many European "Top 10 of 2003" lists.

Thanks.

Well, they did a great DVD but "forgot" to put English subs on it - sad!

The film itself is probably going to be Germany's Oscar contender, especially after winning several of the the European "Felix" awards.

If you get a chance to watch it in a movie theatre, let me know what you're thinking as a non-German - then I'll let you know what I thought about it. ;)

Seb

To re-iterate my views from another post....

Gosh, I can't believe that this film won a slew of awards at the European Film Awards. I guess people in Europe are suddenly becoming nostalgic about life behind the Iron Curtain or something?

The day the wall came down, our school had a holiday. Then for the next week, we were played the videos of the wall tumbling down - over, and over, and over again. Yes, it is a joyous experience at the time. But watching this film trying to milk that is just....ugh.

And seriously, who missed Spreewald-Gurken?

The film was overlong, overly sentimental, overly slapstick, and it was a one-trick joke that had nothing else to say. Ugh.

Grimfarrow-

I understand your amusement however making a film about part of the historic past of Germany (a rather big one mind you) does not mean that the general public is longing for the old-style Soviet Communism the Germans had to deal with in the past.

Like it or not the effect of the superficial post-war division of Germany is still quite noticable- The West prosperous and rich, The East rebuilding from years of isolation.

To generalize that the success of this film indicates rekindled passion for communism in the German socirty is a rather frivolous statement. What happened in the past is there to stay and like it or not Germans will make German movies that deal with the subject. Otherwise, if one draws the same parallel Heaven and Earth or Platoon, etc., could be viewed as an indicator that the American society is still longing for a war in Asia that could have had a different outcome. As you could see these are all blunt generalizations that do not stand a chance against any sort of factual criticism.

I could see your point though....it is indeed a curious occurance.

Interesting comments.

My wife is from the former East-Germany and she is dying to see the film. Her parents felt that the film brilliantly captured some of the sheer insanity of living in the East. Nostalgic? Perhaps. But I hardly think that equates to a desire to return.

I've ordered the DVD from Amazon.de as a Xmas gift for her. Hoping that my bad German is good enough to understand at least part of the film. . .

I think you need to see the film before commenting, Pro-bassoonist. Once you see it, you will know why I said what I said. You don't go "awww shucks" at Mocha gold and Spreewaldgurken because of any other reason than nostalgia. I never tried them, mind you, since when I lived in the West it was called Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

But the film has a VERY strong sense of nostalgia for lost idealism of East Germany. And that is a fact.

If the first announcement is correct, the new upcoming German 3-disc deluxe edition will have English subtitles. It's scheduled for 02/20/04.

CptBlackadder:

it looks promising, what is the best german e-tailer for DVD's? I just looked for it at Amazon.de but they haven't it, still.

<A HREF="http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=mdm67">My Collection</A>

Check this link:
http://www.dvd-palace.de/dvddatabase...dvdcode=g-0361
but I'll wait for the review for this deluxe edition first.

If someone wants to order it from Amazon.de here is a 3 Euro coupon.
XSZF-2EAQW5-UURB6U
Expires on Dec. 19th.

anyword if an independent US distributor might release this theatrically?

only the bonus material discs 2 and 3 will have english subs. the movie itself will only have german subs. still though the english subtitled bonusmaterial should be enough of an indication of upcoming non-german releases with english dubbed audio tracks or english subtitles...

as far as I know it played in NYC theatres....

as a commercial release, or part of a film festival?

If it was in NYC, it must have been part of a festival. I was keeping my eyes open for it.

I don't think it had a general release.

The announcement is just a few days old, it may take a little time until amazon.de lists the DVD. However davros is correct, according to further information, only the two supplemental DVDs are getting English subtitles. Weird! But the specs may change, the best thing will be to wait for reviews.

I am answering my own inquiry here, but I was perusing my friend's Toronto Film Festival programme, and I noted that Sony Pictures Classics is releasing this film on February 27, 2004.

3 disc Edition now up for pre-order :-

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...316529-0340546

According to the specs it DOES have english subs.

Korean edition
 

Re: Korean edition
 

Cool

just ordered mine, waiting for stock now. It am so happy this delightful film is out. It was playing at the Haugesund filmfest in Norway last year. I opted to see it in London a few weeks later.

I'm affraid that Grimfarrow is correct -- I was very disapointed by Good bye, Lenin! I was expecting an mix of biting satire and nostalgia, but the satire of things East was mostly missing. It's not terrible or anything, but to this former East European, a waste of time.

Ted

Korean dvd is released now on sale in US.


http://www.dvdasian.com/cgi-bin/dvdasian/16965.html

on imdb.com it says 'cut' next to South Korea. And the running time on that DVD is 118 mins and it's 121 on imdb.com... don't know how correct this info is but it's something to check out.

the running time of the PAL (!) german dvd is 117 minutes, so the ntsc running time should indeed be around 121 minutes.