Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Uli Edel

Writers:

Stefan Aust (book)
Uli Edel (collaboration)

Release Date:

25 September 2008 (Germany)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama | History

Tagline:

The children of the Nazi generation vowed fascism would never rule their world again.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | 1960s | Kidnapping | 1970s | Assassination

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Martina Gedeck	...	Ulrike Meinhof
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Andreas Baader
Johanna Wokalek	...	Gudrun Ensslin
Nadja Uhl	...	Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Stipe Erceg	...	Holger Meins
Niels-Bruno Schmidt	...	Jan Carl Raspe (as Niels Bruno Schmidt)
Vinzenz Kiefer	...	Peter-Jürgen Boock
Simon Licht	...	Horst Mahler
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Petra Schelm
Daniel Lommatzsch	...	Christian Klar
Sebastian Blomberg	...	Rudi Dutschke
Heino Ferch	...	Horst Herold Assistant
Jan Josef Liefers	...	Peter Homann
Eckhard Dilssner	...	Horst Bubeck
Hannah Herzsprung	...	Susanne Albrecht

Also Known As:

The Baader Meinhof Complex (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
La bande à Baader (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

Runtime:

150 min | Germany:180 min (approx.) (TV version)

Country:

Germany | France | Czech Republic

Language:

German | English | French | Swedish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Czech Republic:12 | Sweden:15 | Norway:15 | Denmark:15 | Ireland:15A | UK:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Netherlands:16 | France:U | Italy:VM14 | Portugal:M/16 | Hong Kong:III | South Korea:18 | Singapore:M18 | Japan:R-15 | USA:R (certificate #45552) | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Bavaria-Ateliers, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivia:

Nadja Uhl, who plays the RAF terrorist Brigitte Mohnhaupt, also played the part of the stewardess Gabriele Dillmann in the 2008 production Mogadischu (2008) (TV). Dillmann was a crew member of the Lufthansa plane 'Landshut' which was hijacked to force the German government to release RAF terrorists from prison in 1977.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Deep Purple song "Child In Time" is played when the movie takes place in 1969. "Child In Time" is from the album "In Rock", and this album was released in 1970.

Quotes:

Brigitte Mohnhaupt: Stop seeing them the way they weren't.

Movie Connections:

Features "Tagesschau" (1952)

Soundtrack:

Child in Time

guns and cigarettes

a few words in advance,

never could a movie dealing with the RAF reach a high average vote and lead to a general approval. It simply depends on the different emotions according to this topic. Don't forget that some 35 years ago there existed an unbelievable high support among young people for the terroristic organization whereas the majority looked with disgust at the murderers.

So watching this movie is simply not more than a check whether the director catches the already existing attitude towards this controversial topic. In my eyes, the optimal way to direct this movie would have to treat it like a partly documentary with many original television scenes connected with the presentation of the characters. What I was interested in was whether this movie is able to place the viewer inside the plot, whether one could feel the atmosphere of this extreme period of German history and whether the presented scenes are consistent with the documents one had seen in television reports before. The movie has definitely come up to my expectations. The characters are just brilliant. It is some of the best German work of acting I have ever seen, every single scenes is so consistent with the picture one has in mind. Almost nothing stays from the line of the real development. The only thing I criticize is the selection of scenes. Maybe, the killers are given to much space to call out their misplaced ideology but neither is their behavior justified nor is any sympathy given to them. There doesn't exist any scope for interpretation about who was right and who was wrong. Furthermore, a few more words could have been given to the victims of the RAF whose assassinations are presented very precisely.

All in all, it is a shocking but good movie.