Wolfgang Becker's “Good Bye, Lenin!” is an earnest and rather misty-eyed eulogy to a country that no longer exists — East Germany. Becker makes no apologies for the stern and ineffectual leadership practiced in that bygone nation, but fondly savors the human connections that can sweeten any memory, be it sad or bitter.

The story is narrated by Alex Kerner (Daniel Bruhl), a 20-something TV repairman whose dream of being a rocketeer never flourished behind the Iron Curtain. Alex has a particularly close relationship with his mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass), whose physician husband abandoned the family for a new life in the West. Shattered, Christiane filled up the marital void by rabidly embracing the socialist ideal of loyalty and community service — she's not a fanatic, but she definitely toes the line.

Along comes 1989, and with it unrest and upheaval. Ironically, Christiane never witnesses the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, or the subsequent drive toward German reunification, because she falls into an eight-month coma after suffering a massive heart attack. When she awakens, none the wiser, her son worries that the shock of finding her beloved socialist republic swept away by capitalism will be too much for Christiane to bear.

Like Roberto Benigni's irrepressible Jewish father in “Life is Beautiful,” Alex goes to work creating a grand illusion. Here's where "Good Bye, Lenin!" — from a likelihood standpoint, at least — strains common sense.

Alex goes to extreme lengths to conceal communist East Germany's demise from his bedridden mother, from scrounging up her favorite discontinued brand of state-subsidized pickles to fabricating TV news broadcasts that trumpet the victorious onward march of Leninism. But why? Alex must know, as we do, that the ruse can only last so long and won't the shock be even worse for Christiane then? Ultimately, Alex seems more deluded than dutiful. Becker, a native West German who wrote the script with Bernd Lichtenberg, slightly misjudges our credulity.

Still, there are plenty of thoughtful, nostalgic and tragically funny moments in "Good Bye, Lenin!" — which swept Germany's equivalent of the Oscars and was an official selection at Sundance in January. In particular, Becker proves adept at illustrating the almost absurdist ease with which East Germany slipped into the free market, expressed best in the scene where Christiane looks out her window in horror at a giant Coca-Cola banner. "Good Bye, Lenin!" is also one of those movies whose motives and values are so impeccable, you can't help but melt a little while taking it in. With dignity and optimism, Becker explores the inevitability of loss, and reveals the subtle, life-sustaining connection between mothers and motherlands.

‘Good Bye, Lenin!’
Starring: Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass, Florian Lukas
Rating: R (profanity, nudity, violence, drug use)
Playing: Opens Friday exclusively at Harkins Camelview in Scottsdale Running time: 118 minutes
Grade: B-