Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (***)

Directed by: Uli Edel
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz
Seen: April 3rd 2009

*** Out of ****

Germany’s official entry for the 2009 Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language film does not let down on the promise that it is good enough to be nominated for an Oscar. It is intense, violent, entertaining. It is very good.

The story concerns itself with the formation, activities, and eventual breakdown and end of the Baader Meinhof Gang, or the Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist group from 1967 to 1977. The group initially started out as Andreas Baader (Bleibtreu) and Gudrun Ensslin (Wokalek) and a few friends wanting to change the world, trying to get to an idealised state of existence for everyone on earth, which started at peaceful protesting but soon enough turned to violent actions to try and influence government policies worldwide.

The almost utopian opening scenes of the film are shot on a European nudist beach, where everyone, including children, is running around naked and Ulrike Meinhof (Gedeck) sits reading as her husband and two young daughters come running out of the surf. Andreas and Gudrun look like the typical 60’s/70’s glamour couple, and through parties and family situations we see they are idealistic, yet beautiful people. Ulrike is a reporter and this is revealed to the viewer as she reads a letter to a Middle Eastern leader, admonishing him for his so-called wrongdoings. Everything is set up to make everyone look just like we do, normal, but with strong feeling about the world as it is.

The visit of the Shah of Iran to Berlin turns into a brawl between Iranian and German protesters and student Benno Ohnesorg is shot when police do not interfere with the Iranians attacking the German civilian (political immunity? Never clarified). This causes Andreas and Gudrun to turn to violence, and they torch a department store in (very irrelevant) protest. Andreas is arrested, and when Ulrike gets the opportunity to help break him out of prison without being implicit in the breakout, she runs away with them, making her a closer part of the group, now becoming their propaganda writer. The group flees to Jordan, where they receive training from Middle Eastern militants, but even here they clash with the status quo when, as they are admonished for appearing in public naked (in a Middle Eastern country), they claim that shooting is like f*cking (Gudrun, topless) – these are clearly idealistic hippies who do as they please.

Bruno Ganz, who played Adolf Hitler in the brilliant Der Untergang, is Horst Herold, the lead investigator in the hunt for the RAF, and he seems to be the only sane voice in the entire film (in the few lines he gets afforded in the script), and he is also the one person who succeeds in capturing members of the RAF on a regular basis. In strong contrast to this most of the other characters’ convictions are not always fully explained, and as such many of their actions and choices might seem stupid, as opposed to justifiable (even if by their own measures).

The film unfolds more like a history lesson or documentary-drama than a persuasive narrative, and for the last half an hour this really tells. Terrorist acts are portrayed, one after the other, without much (but not none) actual reasons for what transpired. It also feels as though the film-makers really wanted to make the viewer feel the stretched out nature of the proceedings, where, in this case, it would have been better told than elaborated upon as is done here, since the last 30 minutes really do not add much value, apart from showing us how the characters have, through evil acts, lost their humanity (most notably Ensslin, a beautiful girl at the outset, now an almost asexual shadow of her previous self, almost to a scary degree).

Der Baader Meinhof Komlex is a multifaceted film that will keep you interested if you are curious about the politics of the time. The film also refers to events from another film, the superb Munich, as a plot point among the many on display here, thus forcing the realism of it all on the viewer. Der Baader Meinhof Komplex will not appeal to a wide audience, but some will definitely enjoy it. Despite all the criticism I have now levelled at it, I know I did.