Polish man awakes to find communism just a bad dream

[Onkel Neal]

I couldn't resist, had to make up my own snappy title for this one


Democracy stuns Polish coma man

"When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol lines were everywhere," Grzebski told TVN24, describing his recollections of the communist system's economic collapse. Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin."

I saw this story earlier today and thought to myself;
He should be the happiest man in the world for many reasons!

[Onkel Neal]

No kidding, and what a wife!! Now that, my friends, is love.

[P_Funk]

Wasn't there some movie mad similar to this? I recall it going that communism fell and a son's mother or father was very ill and he feared that the knowledge of the fall of communism would cause them a shock that they'd die from. So he put up a charade that communism was still ruling.

Edit. Here it is. Good Bye Lenin! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/

[The Avon Lady]

Yet I found this to be the most fascinating part of the article:

"He said he vaguely recalled the family gatherings he was taken to while in a coma and his wife and children trying to communicate with him."

Now there's a potential topic starter. :hmm:

[Camaero]

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

Yet I found this to be the most fascinating part of the article:

"He said he vaguely recalled the family gatherings he was taken to while in a coma and his wife and children trying to communicate with him."

Now there's a potential topic starter. :hmm:

oooo controversy awaits!

[Jimbuna]

This was one of the 'better' topics on last nights News Night programme.

[Skybird]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Bye_Lenin%21
Somehow I did not get warm with this movie, but it had it's moments.

[Onkel Neal]

Yes, and the twist in that film, the woman knew, but her son who was trying to keep her in the dark, didn't know she knew...

The film is set in the East Berlin of 1989 . Alexander Kerner's mother, Christiane Kerner, an ardent supporter of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, suffers a heart attack when she sees Alex being arrested in an anti-government demonstration and falls into a coma shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After eight months she awakes, but is severely weakened both physically and mentally, and doctors say that any shock may cause another, possibly fatal, attack. Alex realises that her discovery of recent events would be too much for her to bear, and so sets out to maintain the illusion that things are as normal in the German Democratic Republic. To this end, he and his family revert the flat to its previous drab decor, dress in their old clothes, and feed the bed-ridden Christiane new, Western produce from old labeled jars. For a time the deception works, but gradually becomes increasingly complicated and elaborate. Despite everything, Christiane occasionally witnesses strange occurrences, such as a gigantic Coca-Cola advertisement banner unfurling on a building outside the apartment. Alexander and a friend with film-making ambitions edit old tapes of news broadcasts and create their own fake special reports to explain them away.

In one surreal scene, Christiane wanders outside the flat while Alex is asleep, and sees all her neighbours' old furniture piled up in the street for garbage collection, a car dealer selling BMWs instead of Trabants and advertisements for such Western corporations as Ikea. Then, a huge military helicopter flies past carrying the upper half of an enormous statue of Lenin. Alex and his friend create a fake special report stating that East Germany is accepting refugees from the West.

A subplot involves the earlier defection to the West of Alexander's father when Alexander was a child, an event which apparently drove his mother temporarily insane, and which prompted her ardent support of the party. Later it is revealed that the defection was planned by them both, but she bailed out to protect her children. Alexander's sister Ariane, now working in a Burger King drive-through, one day sees her father with a new family. Christiane later admits the deception and Alexander goes to find his father, partly for himself and his sister, and partly to honour Christiane's dying wish that she see him one last time.

Christiane relapses, and is once again taken to the hospital. Under pressure to reveal the truth about the fall of the East, Alexander creates one final fake film segment. ... Christiane is very impressed by the "broadcast," but in fact already knows the truth, as Alexander's girlfriend revealed everything when Alexander was not around. The tables are turned completely, and it is Alex who is being protected from reality. Christiane dies soon afterwards, and Alex never knows that she did, in the end, know the truth.

I haven't seen this film but the plot sounds complicated. Charades and avoiding reality, and after all, isn't that what communism is all about ?

[Heibges]

Check out the novel "Moscow 2042" by Vladimir Voinovich.

Narrator time travels to the future from 1986 to 2042, and finds the people of the city of Moscow has finaly realized Communism. Or have they?

Right up there with "We", "1984", "Brave New World", "Cat's Cradle", and "Player Piano".

I will also suggest the film "Repentance" aka "Monanieba" by Tengiz Abuladze. It is a Georgian farce about a corpse that just won't stay buried.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093754/

[Polak]

"When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol lines were everywhere,"

You also had to stand in long lines for toilet paper, and normal beer was out of the question for an average citizen. Only the militia, military and sailors had special stores where they could get something better.
All the boarders where guarded by patrols marching with AK47’s and dogs, those where the days of WOP, ZOMO and LWP.

It’s strange that he did not fall into an other coma when he saw how much Poland actually has changed today.

[Safe-Keeper]

Incredible story.

And yes, it's amazing what has happened in just so few years. Not only on the political front, but also when it comes to technology, moral values, and so on. Not to mention that yes, Good Bye, Lenin fits in here pretty well, for obvious reasons.

"He said he vaguely recalled the family gatherings he was taken to while in a coma and his wife and children trying to communicate with him."

Surely you realize that just because he states that he could hear his family at some time or another while unconscious... does not mean that 'certain other people' could when their treatment ended.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Polak

It’s strange that he did not fall into an other coma when he saw how much Poland actually has changed today.

[Jimbuna]

It’s strange that he did not fall into an other coma when he saw how much Poland actually has changed today.

But much for the better I hope you would agree :hmm:

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Yes, and the twist in that film, the woman knew, but her son who was trying to keep her in the dark, didn't know she knew...

Erm, thanks Neal