The Baader Meinhof Complex

The history of the Red Army Faction—homegrown German terrorists who fought the establishment during the 1960s and ‘70s—is covered in exhaustive detail in this epic-sized docudrama from director Uli Edel. The account begins in 1967–68, with a protest against a visit by the Shah of Iran and the attempted assassination of a left-wing politician—events that lead hot-tempered activist Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), joined by other disaffected youths as well as leftist writer Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck), to launch a violent assault against the status quo. What follows is a montage of killings, bombings, bank robberies, rants, and training sessions with Palestinian militants in Jordan, all shot at a hectic pace and intercut with sequences of the chief government lawman, Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz), quietly mapping out plans to systematically cripple the group. At the halfway point, the ringleaders are captured and put on trial, and the film follows their experiences in prison cells or the courtroom, while outside the next generation undertakes missions to force their release, ending with a botched kidnapping and an airline hijacking. Avoiding didacticism, the film lets the facts speak for themselves, adopting a gritty, cinema verité style that the story a vivid sense of time and place. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (30 min.), “The Actors on Their Roles” cast and crew featurette (38 min.), an “On Authenticity” production segment (21 min.), a behind-the-scenes featurette (13 min.), an interview with author Stefan Aust (42 min.), an interview with writer-producer Bernd Eichinger (25 min.), a “Scoring Baader” featurette (12 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid foreign film.] (F. Swietek)