Moritz Bleibrau and Johanna Wokalek as Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin (l.) and Martina Gedeck as Ulkrike Meinhof (r.)
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX The Baader Meinhof Complex is one of a number of superb films that examine the effects of the Nazi era on the generation of Germans who followed. In this case, it was the example not speaking up against fascism that ultimately pushed a group of young people to form The Red Army Faction (RAF), the terrorist group that was responsible for a number of robberies and bombings between 1967 and 1977. As someone who came of age just after the upheaval of the 1960s, and who was raised by activist parents, I’ve always had a certain sympathy for countercultural activists: those who dare to really push back against the domination of the weak by the few. Edel, was also a “revolutionary romantic” in 1968 when he was a student, but one who became disillusioned when the violence became extreme and innocent people began to be killed. The film is based on Stefan Aust’s non-fiction summary of the beginning and end of the RAF also called The Baader Meinhof Complex and was adapted by Bernd Eichinger. Aust had worked on a magazine and knew many of the people who went on to become involved with the RAF, including Ulrike Meinhof. Later he produced many reports, as a broadcaster on the subject of domestic terrorism. Eichinger has known director Uli Edel since they were both at the Munich Film Academy and could think of no one better to take on the task building a very unconventional but relentless narrative film. The film begins by briefly showing the peaceful bourgeois life of Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) as well known left wing journalist, with her husband and two children in their comfortable surroundings. From there all is disrupted when a student demonstration against a visit by the Shah of Iran results in the murder of a protester by the police. As was happening all over Western Europe and the U.S., students became radicalized against imperialist actions in Vietnam and elsewhere and some moved into violent action. Meinhof gradually abandons her life (including her children) to put her intellectual ideas into action, joining forces with Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Gudrun Ensslin(Johanna Wokalek). The film is meticulous in it’s recreation of details from the numerous characters who quickly and seamlessly move in and out of the action to the recreations of the bombings of department stores, police headquarters, and even a U.S. army base, interweaving archival footage throughout. For example, even the shootouts were carefully constructed so that the number of bullets used matched exactly what was in the actual police reports. They also shot at the real locations like Deutsche Oper Berlin (student protest in 1967), Technical University and the original courtroom of the RAF trial in Stammheim Prison. At the same time there is no question this is a feature film, as factual as it is the narrative anchor is rooted in the characters and their relationships. Capturing the charisma of someone like Baader, the manic drive of Ensslin and the sort of confused seduction of Meinhof. At the same time, there almost no romanticization of the group, it’s aims and it’s ultimate disintegration. We understand the political motivations, and we see clearly how the forces of strong personalties dominating weaker ones lead this group and others like the Weather Underground in the U.S. to violence. But then again the film isn’t so much about the underlying philosophies as it is about what the RAF finally does. “I firmly believe that we don’t define ourselves as humans by what we say but by what we do,” stresses Eichinger. As I walked back to my car and drove to Los Angeles, from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival where I had seen the film, it was hard to shake my feelings of extreme discomfort. It is a disturbing film, but in a very good way. And I couldn’t help thinking about why we’ve created so many distractions for young people: because when they wake up and mobilize, if they cannot be contained within the conformist structures, they are the ones with the energy and devil may care attitudes to go ahead and start blowing things up. From that standpoint, given our current crisis, they’ll just keep those video games, action movies coming and this film may not even find a distributor here in the U.S. In German with English subtitles. Directed by Uli Edel; written by Bernd Eichinger and Uli Edel, based on the book and in consultation with Stefan Aust; Director of Photography, Rainer Klausmann; edited by Alexander Berner; music by Peter Hinderthür and Florian Tesslof; produced by Bernd Eichinger. With: Martina Gedeck (Ulrike Meinhof); Moritz Bleibtreu (Andreas Baader); Johanna Wokalek (Gudrun Ensslin); Nadja Uhl (Brigitte Mohnhaupt); Jan Josef Liefers (Peter); Stipe Erceg (Holger Meins); Alexandra Maria Lara (Petra Schelm) and Bruno Ganz (Horst Herold).
