It is 1989 & Alex (Daniel Bruhl) & his sister Ariane (Maria Simon) live in East Germany with their mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass). A staunch Socialist, Alex's mother suffers a heart attack when she sees Alex being arrested on a protest march, & falls into a coma for eight months
- in which time the Berlin Wall comes down. When Christiane wakes up, doctors warn Alex that any shock could bring on a fatal heart attack, so he decides to convince his mother that her beloved Communism has not been overthrown, but is in fact triumphing over Capitalism; & Alex sets about recreating every detail of the old East Berlin in their flat.
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After taking their Higher Certificate, the sixth formers want to relax this term. But the Head has a surprise: a finishing school course, with old girl Gwendoline Lacey as teacher. Yet someone is determined to drive her out
- & it takes the return of Darrell to solve the mystery.
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As a Marxist thinker the author is not afraid to ask the difficult questions of the post-Communist age: What should a new left agenda consist of? Where does globalization fit? Here, he retraces the changes since 1989: the birth of Zapatism, the emergence of anti-globalization movements, employment crises & beyond. ...