(Essay) Socialist Nostalgia in Eastern European Movies

“Lenin walks around the world./The sun sets like a scar./Between the darkness and the dawn/There rises a red star,” Langston Hughes writes. Communism collapsed, and history as people knew it ended in 1989, but time went on. The uncertainty of a new, democratic, and capitalistic future turned people to look to the past, and that past is either the subject of desire or the subject of critique. This essay will examine two European films concerning the Eastern bloc, Man of Marble (1977) and Good Bye, Lenin! (2003), and analyse their narrative, cinematography, and connections with other forms of art surrounding socialism to discuss the politics of “looking back” at the socialist eras. Through these two films, I will contrast the ways artists handle the socialist era as a subject, how Man of Marble blatantly criticises Poland’s Stalinist era while Good Bye, Lenin! looks back at East Germany fondly. I will also compare the similarities within them, how they use irony to wade through the sentimentality and how their acts of “looking back” originate from the same attitude—the wish for a better society.

Man of Marble (1977), directed by Andrzej Wajda, is a film made after Poland’s Stalinist era. The film narrates the story of Agnieszka, a young, ambitious filmmaker, making a movie about a past Socialist hero, Mateusz Birkut. She and the audience initially understand Birkut from a propagandist standpoint. However, throughout the film, details about Birkut’s life slowly come to light, revealing how the system failed this honest and hardworking man. The character of Mateusz Birkut is reminiscent of Alexei Stakhanov, a socialist worker who formulated a more productive method of working, though the story was all fabricated by propaganda media. Much like Stakhanov, Birkut was a “character” created to motivate common workers, increasing productivity in brick-building work. During the making of the film, Agnieszka runs into challenges posed by the authorities who question her movie and eventually take the movie away from her.

Goodbye, Lenin! (2003), directed by Wolfgang Becker, is a more recent German film with international success. It portrays a story set in East Germany of Alexander (Alex) Kerner, and his desperate attempts to hide the reunification of East and West Germany from his mother, who is a devout socialist, to prevent her from experiencing a heart attack that might cost her her life. Throughout the movie, we see Alex’s attempts to keep the GDR alive become increasingly desperate, growing into an obsession that not only stemmed from love for his mother, but also for himself. Discussions surrounding this movie often point towards the concept of ostalgie, or ostalgia, a German term referring specifically to nostalgia people have for East Germany. We see a tension between the “ostalgic” characters (Alex, his mom Christiane, and his sister Ariane) and the rapidly Westernising environment through marketable products, their romantic partners, their house, their TV….  The two protagonists Agnieszka and Alex are the main subjects of nostalgia, though their nostalgia is not a simple romanticisation of the past, but one full of criticism and irony.

It is socialism that complicates this act of longing. Nostalgia is not a concept often associated with leftist ideas, but it is frequently adopted in support of right-wing ideologies, such as fascism. The chapter “Nostalgia and the Left: Denial, Danger and Doubt” by Alastair Bonnett outlines the complicated relationship between nostalgia and leftism, arguing that while the longing for the past is a fascist rhetoric, it is not completely alien to leftist ideology. The left’s disdain for nostalgia is demonstrated through Karl Marx, “[I]f constructing the future and settling everything for all times are not our affair, it is all the more clear what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists….” He expresses that progress happens when we’re in a constant state of critique, a constant state of change from the past. It is an idea that Mao Zedong took to heart during the Cultural Revolution, encouraging young people to educate their elders into diverging from Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, Old Ideas, also known as the Four Olds. It is, however, also in Karl Marx that we see the correlation between the past and communism. He writes to Engels that the sentiments of every person when they were at a “primitive” age corresponds to the beliefs of socialism, simple wishes for justice, equality, peace…. People who examine Marxism through a theological lens also point out the similarity between the communist construction of a utopia and millenarianism, where Marxists and Christians hope for a future of returning to utopia/God, of salvation. This contradictory blend of longing for the past and the future can be misinterpreted and misused. Svetlana Boym highlights the distinction between “restorative” and “reflective” nostalgia. Restorative nostalgia “stresses nostos (home) and attempts a transhistorical reconstruction of the lost home.” In contrast, reflective nostalgia plays into the Marxist idea of constant criticism, its ironic nature used to create a past “safe for political consumption” for bettering of the present. By taking the idea of reflective nostalgia into account, it becomes apparent how Man of Marble and Good Bye, Lenin! both serve as a commentative look to the past and the present.

Man of Marble (1977) is one of the first films in Poland that directly criticised Stalinism, and one cannot criticise the past without remembering it. In the movie, Wajda bridges the gap between the past and the present using the two major characters: Birkut (the past) and Agnieszka (the present). Throughout the film, Agnieszka works towards digging up information about Birkut by subjecting herself to the past, which includes looking at old documentaries and newsreels about Birkut. Beginning her research on Birkut, the audience are subjected to a number of films-within-film imitating 1950s propaganda news. Wajda reproduces them down to a science, and the irony that comes with both the accuracy and the fact that it isn’t real can be compared to Deimantas Narkevičius’ 2007 film, The Head. The Head takes existing footage of documentaries filmed on the sculptor Lev Kerbel, which narrates his journey into creating the biggest statue of Karl Marx, to be edited into a separate film of itself. The documentary calls back to the documentaries in Man of Marble with similar elements, such as the proud tone of the narrator, the many handheld shots, the strong and descriptive language, and more. The fact that The Head is edited from existing footage creates a tone of cynicism and irony, much like how we as the audience may interpret the documentaries within Man of Marble. As a recent film made in 2007, we also notice how ironising it acts as a way of reflecting on the past. While The Head mocks the process of building a sculptor, Man of Marble shows the sculpture of a man abandoned and uncared for. The scene from the very start of the film shows Agnieszka, desperate to get materials for her film, tricking her way into the storage room of a museum where she discovers the marble statue of Mateusz Birkut. To film discreetly, Agnieszka abandons any tripod and films the marble statue hand-held. The scene illustrates the contrast between a desperate and passionate filmmaker pointing her camera towards a dusty sculpture, lying still in the midst of other abandoned artworks. We understand that something that once was has been long dead.

The state of Birkut’s marble sculpture suggests that much like ideas, statues are strong but can be destroyed. Good Bye, Lenin! showcases this in one of its most iconic scenes. In the latter half of the movie, Alex’s mom Christiane is slowly recovering from her coma. While Alex was asleep, Christiane decided to get out of bed and take a walk outside, subjecting herself to a reunified Berlin for the first time. As she walks further from the apartment door, she sees Western furniture, Ikea, and slowly, a statue of Lenin being carried by a helicopter approaching from the distance. The statue of Lenin, one where he’s reaching his hands out, flies right in front of Christiane. And in this scene, the audience and Christiane are confronted by the fleetingness of socialism, or the ephemerality of the conditions of our lives and our society. Take the example of the Stalin Monument in Prague, a real life comparison. The monument was up for a mere seven years, unveiled at an unfortunate timing where anti-Stalinist movement was growing. It was ordered to be destroyed in 1962, succumbing to 800 kg of explosives and more than a thousand detonators—a much more violent death than being forgotten in a storage room or being carried away in air.

But who is to say that Lenin and Stalin are really gone if we still have the means to remember them. There are a number of photographs of the Prague Stalin Monument, even pictures of the monument mid-explosion. The camera, as a method of connecting to the past, is something that both protagonists engage in. Agnieszka’s will to make a film about Birkut is not only a way for her to learn more about the socialist hero, but to eternalise and distribute the story to the public. Perhaps the reason the authorities prohibited her from completing the film is not only because the truth will be revealed, but that it will also be remembered. Alex, who works for a satellite TV company, uses the resources from him and his friend Denis to create fake newsreels that would deceive his mom into thinking that the GDR is still alive. The difference between Agnieszka and Alex is that Agnieszka wants to eternalise the truth, while Alex uses the camera to eternalise a version of his memory, his own truth. This goes back to the different intentions that Wajda and Becker have with making these films, where Wajda lives in a time where it is more dire to have an artwork that directly criticises the system.

By remembering, or reminiscing, or criticising the past, our characters develop a hope for something new. Utopia is a core concept within communist beliefs, comparable to that of the Second Coming in Christianity, as mentioned earlier, though they should always be thought of as distinct. Artists have depicted the act of flying as a symbol for utopia, and this can be seen in Egorka the Flyer by Gely Korzhev and The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment by Ilya Kabakov. Egorka the Flyer depicts a young man who has fallen onto the ground, surrounded by pieces of what seems to be makeshift wings made from wood and fabric. This painting can be read as an interpretation of Icarus from the Greek mythologies, a man who fell from flying too close to the sun. The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment is an installation piece in a room plastered with communist posters, with a contraption made from belts and mattress springs leading to a hole in the ceiling. Both of these artworks are vague in meaning, featuring what seems like improvised equipment used to fly into the sky. An absurd, naively hopeful gesture, where Egorka the Flyer shows the consequence of this naivety, The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment leaves the audience wondering what happened.

Man of Marble and Good Bye, Lenin! both presented their own version of “flying”. Wajda’s “flying” was seen in Agnieszka’s confrontation with Witek, an old friend of Birkuts who was formerly a political prisoner whom Birkut fought for the release of. Agnieszka interviewed Witek on his helicopter, where he talked mostly about his current career as a director for construction site Huta Katowice, and very little about Birkut. On the helicopter, Agnieszka along with the audience oversees the “industrial miracles” from up in the sky, and in this place we get a glimpse of what the future may hold. This scene with Witek encapsulates the 1970s Polish fascination with industrialisation, a sign of the country’s success at the time. Yet it has also been discussed amongst film critics as Wajda not rejecting socialism, but that he still held onto aspects of the socialist-era, such as industrialisation, with merit. Perhaps Wajda had no intention of completely rejecting socialism, instead focusing on the rejection of Stalinism in itself, as Frank Turaj says, “there continued to be a fascination with the Stalinist years…because Stalinism is a good target. It is a way of criticising the system without being blamed for criticising the system.” Artists who live within the state of constant criticism, as Wajda shows himself to be in Man of Marble, can (and should) also demonstrate a future that they deem to be good—similar to how communists believe in utopia. The beginning of Good Bye, Lenin! shows Alex as a child, watching astronaut Sigmund Jähn on the TV talking about his experience going to space. Young Alex’s dream was to become an astronaut like Sigmund Jähn, and adult Alex never seemed to let go of that dream. Near the end of the film, Christiane’s illness worsened and was sent back to the hospital. In the hospital, Lara, Alex’s partner and Christiane’s nurse, had told Christiane the truth about the reunification of East and West. This was unbeknownst to Alex, who created another newsreel with a taxi driver who seemed to be the astronaut Sigmund Jähn, announcing “his decision” to open the Berlin Wall as his friend Denis describes the Westerners visiting the East to discover a new life under socialism. Just before Christiane passed away, everyone gathered in her hospital room on Republic Day (which he also fabricated the date for) to watch this final fabricated newsreel declaring a bright future for Germany. By using Sigmund Jähn to announce this “decision”, Alex not only reminisces on his childhood dream, but relates the idea of a bright future under Socialism to the feeling of flight. “In space, [our country is] tiny,” but thousands of people are coming here and getting their lives changed, Sigmund Jähn says. In the name of Christiane, Alex is practicing ostalgie for his childhood in the GDR. And though it’s a universal experience to reminisce one’s childhood, the political state of this place and era forces people to live through rapid change, many experiencing a physical displacement from their homes. This ostalgie “can be an attempt to reclaim a kind of Heimat (home or homeland), albeit a romanticized and hazily glorified one.” Alex not only conceives a romanticised GDR in his mind, but also creates one through the newsreel with Sigmund Jähn, the video being a tangible manifestation of his idea of a better world.

These sentiments are not limited to the characters in these movies, but to Eastern Europeans living in the present as well. One of the ways that people held on to their socialist past is through “nostalgia for profit.” This type of nostalgia can be seen through tourism, such as Ostalgie-tours for foreigners, or in souvenirs in antique shops and markets. One clear example of nostalgia in the market is product distribution in reunified Germany, a phenomenon shown clearly in Good Bye, Lenin!. Immediately after the fall of the GDR, all East German products became out-of-stock and were replaced by Western products. However, GDR products came back years after the fall when people became disinterested in the spectacle of the West. And not only that, people were developing new products such as card games and encyclopedias about the East. In an article published in The Baffler written by Dubrauka Ugresic titled “LONG LIVE SOCIALIST REALISM!”, Ugresic connects today’s market-oriented culture to her nostalgia for the socialist era. She writes, “most of today’s literary production bases its success on the simple socialist-realist idea of progress…all these books infect the reading public with the virus of belief in a bright personal future.” In short, it all points toward the feeling of desire. Daphne Berdahl quotes Susan Stewart in her article, saying, “…nostalgia wears a distinctly Utopian face, a face that turns toward a future-past, a past which has only ideological reality… nostalgia is the desire for desire.” Movies like Man of Marble and Good Bye, Lenin! exist within the realm of media created to look back on socialist Eastern Europe, and this shared desire is perhaps the reason why people are compelled to watch these movies, to relate with its protagonists.

In Man of Marble and Good Bye, Lenin!, we see how these films look critically at the past and how it uses it to build a concept of a future. Outside of the narratives of the films itself, Eastern Europeans in real life participate in nostalgia from similar sentiments as the protagonists. Taking all these ideas into consideration, I think back on Svetlana Boym’s ideas of restorative nostalgia and reflective nostalgia. Boym states that restorative nostalgia does not simply involve the past, but the specific act of restoring the past, with a heavy emphasis on traditional values, of origins and conspiracy theories. It’s easy to see how the restorative quality of it can be used in reactionary movements, reflecting the idea of nostalgia as a tool for fascism and other right-wing movements. Reflective nostalgia, however, is concerned with the context of its history and individuals: “Reflective nostalgia does not pretend to rebuild the mythical place called home; it is ‘enamored of distance, not of the referent itself.’ This type of nostalgic narrative is ironic, inconclusive, and fragmentary…It is precisely this defamiliariza­tion and sense of distance that drives them to tell their story, to narrate the relationship between past, present, and future. Through that longing, they discover that the past is not that which no longer exists, but, to quote Bergson, the past is something that ‘might act, and will act by inserting itself into a present sensation from which it borrows the vitality.’” Working from this description, it becomes clear how Man of Marble and Good Bye, Lenin! participate in the act of reflective nostalgia. Within these two films, Andrzej Wajda and Wolfgang Becker create artworks full of irony, utilising films-within-films, character interactions, references to real-life symbols and events to reflect on the past neither through rose-coloured lenses nor through a place of complete rejection. Through their unique narratives, each film reflects not only on the past, but their present, and creates hope for a better future. Though it might be the end of history for some, for Wajda and Becker, the red star still shines.

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