Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex)

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  September 29, 2009

  rebvodka042099

  German cinema is the one that fascinates me the most when it comes to European cinema, because it proves that less is more. Maybe The Baader-Meinhof Complex isn't as powerful as The Edukators which was given to us a few years back, but it's still a near-maste...( read more)rpiece of a great historic momentousness. The performances by the starring trio are just excellent. Moritz Bleibtreu (whom I first saw in Lola Rennt) was great enough to both own the movie, but to also allow Martina Gedeck and Johanna Wokalek to shine.
  
  My only problem with it was that it attempted to say everything there is to be said on the RAF organization, when many things could have been edited out. That results in extreme action-filled highs and relaxed, almost still, lows. Other than that, a great film and another specimen of fine cinema. Disturbingly provocative and holding the attention.

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  May 17, 2009

  mrpopcorn

  "Stop seeing them the way they weren't."
  
  A look at Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s. Based on Stefan Aust's best-selling nonfiction book.
  
  ...( read more)nt size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook">REVIEW
  Although being somewhat more than moderately interested in politics, I knew very little about the original activities on which this film is based. Having seen the film, I now feel vastly more knowledgeable on how world events in the late sixties and early seventies led from the emergence to the demise of this particular left wing faction. My attention was fully engaged throughout the film. I thought the screenplay brilliantly portrayed the way the mindset of the RAF developed as they became more and more convinced they were living in a police state. Acting and direction were superb throughout. In spite of the violence and repression being depicted, I was reassured by the fact that such thought provoking films can and are being made for today's cinema audiences.
  
  After seeing Die Welle (I think it was three times) earlier this year I am now very enthusiastic about German cinema and shall certainly be hoping to see Der Baader Meinhof Komplex at least once more this year. A masterpiece of political film making. Highly recommended.

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  April 26, 2009

  gor41

  Interesting and complex labour of love from Edel which demands a lot from the viewer with its historical sweep. It is long and the pace varies dramatically but you will learn a lot about the subject.

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  November 17, 2008

  RossCollinsUK

  A fascinating docu-drama about the rise and fall of a German left-wing terrorist group in the 1970s. The film's aim is to neutrally portray all the facts, which is also its weakness, and as such it doesn't come to any particular conclusion after two and a half hours. Although it ...( read more)could have been made shorter and punchier, I was totally engrossed throughout and enjoyed this examination of the creation of the 'age of terror'.

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  October 11, 2008

  ironclad1609

  The true story of terror attacks in Germany of the 1960s and 70s, performed by left extremists of the Red Army Fraction. While the movie is already two and a half hours long, it would have needed even another hour to deliver the background for people not familiar with this part o...( read more)f Germany's history. Especially the end comes rather suddenly and should have some explanations added for foreign audiences. That being said, the film does a great job in bringing this time back to life by rushing through the most important events in a really exciting and interesting way, following the most important characters on both sides of the law. The cast reads like a who is who of current German cinema, the performances are all around great, especially by Moritz Bleibtreu as terrorist leader Andreas Baader. By using montages with original news footage and music, delivering some of the strongest scenes, the film manages to sum up the mood, thread, ideas and emotions involved at that time really well. It just shows what happened, without judging or taking either the terrorists' or the law's side. A great history lesson, but probably hard to consume without some more background information.

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  November 14, 2009

  Dracula787

  It?s no secret that many people view the Best Foreign Language category of the Academy Awards as a mess. Between the country by country submission process, the process of selecting a shortlist, and the process of choosing five final films, there are a ton of roadblocks in which ...( read more)snubs can occur. This was made particularly clear in 2007, when important films like 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days were ignored in favor of off the radar oddities like Beaufort, Katy?, and 12. Many also complained about the 2008 lineup, but if you think about it they really stepped up that year. Among the nominees were the Palm D?or winner The Class, critical favorite and future Criterion-laureate Revanche, the wildly creative animated documentary Waltz With Bashir, and Departures, a film whose victory baffled many but which got solid reviews once people finally got a chance to see it. Really, that?s what the category?s major problem is, its dealing with movies which few people have actually had a chance to see and which have had no ability to get buzz stateside. That?s probably the problem that The Baader-Meinhof Complex had when its nomination baffled many. Had it had the stateside released then which it is now finally getting it might have been less of a shock.
  
  The film tells the true story of the RAF, that?s not the Royal Air Force, it?s the Red Army Faction; a group of disillusioned youths who turned to violence in an attempt to cause social change in late sixties Germany. The group could probably be equated to The Weathermen, except that they were more violent and more active than that American group. In short, these were left wing domestic terrorists who reaped havoc throughout Germany for about a decade, and that?s a topic that needs to be approached carefully.
  
  The title refers to RAF members Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck), who became the group?s most famous members. However, the movie does not necessarily focus on either of them and they do not appear to be bilateral leaders of the organization. Rather, this is an ensemble film about an organization that appears to have been somewhat loosely organized. Baader is the member who more closely lives up to what one would expect from an RAF member, he?s young, angry and political. The kind of person who?d normally just wear a Che Guevara T-Shirt but who instead ended up taking arms and emulating him. Meinhof is a bit more intriguing. She began her career as a respected left wing journalist, but finally came to sympathize and ultimately sacrifice everything in order to join the group.
  
  These young people are raging against a lot of things around them, particularly the ongoing war in Vietnam (for which the United States has been using bases in Germany), the treatment of Palestine by Israel, and the general belief that corporations have been controlling everything. They come to the conclusion that to do nothing in the face of all this would be as much of a sin as the conformity the previous generation showed in the face of Nazism. That?s what drove them philosophically, additionally; they were living in a time of worldwide counterculture which is something the film shows very well. The film has a number of montages (perhaps too many) that really drive home the environment which bread this organization and why so many of the youth in Germany came to sympathize with them.
  
  The group?s build is rather interesting as there is a fascinating gender equality to the Baader Meinhoff group. Three of the most important RAF members (Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek), Brigitte Mohnhaupt (Nadja Uhl), and Meinhof), are women and many of them act as aggressively as the men. Do not expect Baader and Meinhof to be some kind of Bonnie and Clyde style lovers in crime. This is the late 60s and the group practices free love, a fact that does not amuse their Palestinian colleagues as evidenced by a scene where they went to a terrorist training camp and gained the reputation of being screw-ups among their peers in the terror business.
  
  Of course, amidst all the 60s clothing and rock music, one must face the fact that these people were killers. Perhaps they were idealistic and well intentioned killers, but killers none the less. That?s what makes this subject matter so challenging; terrorist are probably the least popular people in the world today and with good reason, how do you make these characters sympathetic enough to follow without glorifying them or whitewashing their less savory aspects. This is perhaps not unlike the challenges posed by making a serious film about gangs and organized crime, but magnified by the political elements. To deal with this Edel has chosen to make this a straightforward film about historical events told with meticulous detail and research. Stefan Aust?s book was clearly important to this production for far more than its catchy title, one feels like Edel was interested as much in making an accessible illustrated historical record as he was in telling a cinematic story.
  
  The history here is interesting enough for such a treatment, but it?s also the movies Achilles Heel. The material is never dry, but because this is trying to be so accurate there are developments that go against the nature of film storytelling; important characters emerge in the final act and events occur that seem separate from the main narrative thrust and in general it affair seems a bit unfocused. One wonders if this would be perfected if Edel had been willing to composite a few characters and simplify elements. Quentin Tarentino lovingly asserted in the finale of Inglorious Basterds that film is a stronger force than history, and while I certainly am not recommending that The Baader Meinhof Complex needed to take any departures as radical as Tarentino did, I do think Edel probably should have taken his duties as a film maker a little more seriously than his duties as a historian. Still, the way the film steadfastly presents history in a way that is cinematically compelling if not narratively clan, does make for a very interesting film.

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  October 26, 2009

  cinnamontree

  I believe there's so much things to say about this subject but it isn't necessary to cram them all in one movie. Therefore there were a couple of scenes that weren't just going nowhere. However... it was fascinating. Absolutely kept me gripped the whole time, great acting and...( read more) minimalistic cinematography (kind of like those old German crime tv series).

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  September 17, 2009

  deano

  Interesting true story of this 2009 Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of German production is based on the exploits of Berlin's Red Army Faction, a terrorist group active during the 1970s who fought against American imperialism. That was almost even to 1988 American ...( read more)production's Patty Hearst. Great politician cinema I've ever seen; the direction, the acting, the script and the editing.
  The quality of the acting ranges from good to fantastic (with very few exceptions like Alexandra Maria Lara, who is nothing more than wide-eyed again and who thankfully doesn't even have dialogue). Especially Martina Gedeck and Johanna Wokalek are sensational. It is THEIR film and the conflicts in Stammheim which led to Meinhof's suicide are acted Oscar-worthy. But Michael Gwisdek (Ensslin's father), Jan Josef Liefers (Peter Homann), Sebastian Blomberg (Rudi Dutschke), Nadja Uhl (Brigitte Mohnhaupt) and Hannah Herzsprung (Susanne Albrecht) arey good.

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  September 15, 2009

  kunam88

  for a simple subject matters about a terrorist vs the goverment,this movie is too overlong and too convoluted.looks like director Uli Edel put too much ambition into this movie.unlike MUNICH,which has many layer and moral message,this one lack of it.

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  September 6, 2009

  HurdAudio

  Intense, long and thoroughly engaging. There's a lot of characters and history to track over this one. There's also an explosive, energetic propulsion that justifies the demands it makes on the viewer. A slice of history that deserves better understanding.

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