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| Face images of 12 of the central characters of Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex splashed in dangerous red and black form this poster for the film |
The Baader Meinhof Complex is a chronicle of the German Rote Armee Fraktion's left wing terrorism in Germany in the late 1960s and 70s.
Some audiences enjoy Complex merely as action entertainment; something I was unable to, as I don't think the film should or does work like that. But it is indeed an action-packed and very fast-paced film. It is written by Bernd Eichinger (Downfall/Der Untergang (2004)) with its director Uli Edel (Christiane F./Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981)) collaborating, based on the same-titled 1985 book by Stefan Aust (Der Pirat: Die Drogenkarriere des Jan C. (1990).
I was astonished at the amount of terrorist acts that the RAF actually pulled off; countless assassinations, bombings and robberies. It also seems as if Eichinger and Edel's approach was to cover almost everything the group did, and to pack as much as possible into the movie in terms of the group's operations. The staging of these crimes and huge scenes like the violent demonstration against the German visit of the Iranian shah in the film's beginning or the university or court meeting scenes later on, is very impressive, and it thankfully seems like a very different, past time in Europe, looking at it today, although this may be an illusion.
This is a very big film, - in some places described as the most expensive German film ever made, - and a rather long one, and I was not subjectively very attracted to its content: But also more objectively, there is not one single lead character in the film, whom we come to know and like, - which would require more background knowledge (and less shooting), - but instead a plethora of mostly young, repulsive leads, whose journey into deeper levels of madness and criminality must somehow (perhaps through the action-focused depiction or their place in German history), the filmmakers seem to gamble, interest us.
Only about halfway through the movie is an anti-terrorist unit formed, and a real opponent to the group comes forth in the sympathetic Bruno Ganz (Downfall) playing the unit's chief. Before this we are mostly left in the company of the deceitful Ulrike Meinhof, who leaves her husband and children to spread murder and mayhem; the shouting, simple-minded gorilla-like man Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu (The Lark Farm/La Masseria delle Allodole (2007)) portrays him as intensely impassioned, despicable and stupid, - especially brutish in the PLA (the Palestinian Liberation Army) training camp scenes), and the merciless witch Gudrun Ensslin. Their violent escapades are intercut with scenes that seem to try to explain their actions: Images of the times, the war in Vietnam, the protests, and the uprising, and youthful anarchy different places around the world.
Many have felt it admirable that the film leaves it up to its audience to judge the actions and characters. I would have liked a stronger opponent to the group, - or a completely different take on the story; perhaps centering on one operation, or focusing on the terrorists' time in jail and the group's dissolution.
The ending of The Baader Meinhof Complex is abrupt and doesn't leave a clear understanding of what finally happened. The RAF terrorists were in my mind so much in the wrong that I think Complex goes too far in its openness of a kind of accept of their actions. A film on this topic must never have the potential to become a worshiping item for new generations of Communist crazies, picking up on the perceived strengths and faults in the tactics of their predecessors. I think The Baader Meinhof Complex walks too close to the danger line in this respect.
Another element of the film that leaves a dubious aftertaste is that the widow of a leading banker assassinated by the RAF was so infuriated with the apparently "almost completely false depiction" of her husband's death in the film that she turned in her Federal Cross of Merit to the German state, because the state co-funded The Baader Meinhof Complex. Such a criticism is serious and detrimental to a moral defense of the film.
The impressive scope and technical accomplishment of The Baader Meinhof Complex may account for the majority of its many accolades, - something I do not think it deserves. Watch the trailer and just ask yourself, if we'll ever see a similar, one-sided action movie depiction of Islamic terrorists bombing and murdering civilians to the tunes of popular rock music? - Are there such a thing as good and bad terrorists?
I am assured that the answer is no. There are simply terrorists, - and they are never good.
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| The artsy poster work of the cool-looking, shade-wearing terrorists here are part of the aestheticizing of political criminals that Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex regrettably commits |
Watch here, in lieu of a trailer for the film at hand, which isn't available at the moment, the great scene from Edel's classic Christiane F. (1981), in which young Christiane attends a David Bowie concert
Cost: 19.7 mil. $
Box office: 16.4 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.83 times its cost)
[The Baader Meinhof Complex premiered 16 September (Germany) and runs 149 minutes (an extended TV cut runs 164 minutes). Funding included 6.5 mil. €, almost half the budget, from German subsidies. Shooting took place in Germany, including Berlin, Morocco, Prague, the Czech Republic and in Rome, Italy from August - December 2007. The film opened #60 to a 17k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #40 and 38 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 476k $ (2.9 % of the total gross.) The film's other markets' gross numbers have regrettably not been made public. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, lost to Japanese Departures. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, 3 European Film Awards and 4 German Film Awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Edel returned with Time You Change/Zeiten Ändern Dich (2010). Bleibtreu returned in Lippels Traum (2009); Martina Gedeck (Sergeant Pepper (2004)) in Beloved Clara/Geliebte Clara (2008); and Ganz in The Dust of Time/Trilogia II: I skoni tou hronou (2008). The Baader Meinhof Complex is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.05/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Baader Meinhof Complex?
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