East Germany portrayed in "GoodBye Lenin!"

I wrote about love stories portrayed in "GoodBye Lenin!" last month, and I wrote that I will write about the film again focusing on other aspects of the film. One of other aspects that I'd like to look into is East Germany portrayed in "GoodBye Lenin!".

First, I don't think that "GoodBye Lenin!" tries to portray East Germany to lecture those in westernized countries how meaningless materialism is or how superficial they are becoming. However, "GoodBye Lenin!" touches on the subject without making any forceful argument or preaching the audience, and that actually makes a pretty strong statement, though, again, I do not think that it is the director's (primary)intension.

"GoodBye Lenin!" portrays a very simple life. Small apartment, no garment food, no fancy car(and in fact, Daniel's family doesn't own any car), and no designer clothes. Modern economic theory tells that the life style is removed from the attachment to the monetary value; it is a very thrifty life. But value is more than just having materials. I'm not trying to preach anyone, but I have to say that the modern economic theory completely takes common value such as day-to-day human interaction, healthcare, clean water and clean air out of the equation, and that is scientifically incorrect(I think about this more after I watched "The Corporation" the other day). There is value in simple life style, monetary value arguably, and you find that in the film.

Film may feel rather slow to some people, because you don't see Ferrari, house like a castle, or a bunch of jewelries, but each segment of the film shows that each moment of simple life has value. I'm not trying to say that Ferrari has no value or it's meaningless to collect jewelries, but I feel like there needs to be more in life than Ferrari and jewelries. I know that all these sound so cliché, but the way in which "Good Bye Lenin!" sends this message(whether consciously or unconsciously) is poetic.