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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 13 November 2008

Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek)

A bloody look back at Red Army terror of 70s

THE BAADER-MEINHOF COMPLEX
Directed by Christopher Roth
Certifcate 18

IF you can forget the fact this well conceived and brilliantly performed film is a contentious, potted history of a left-wing terror group, the Baader-Meinhof Complex can be viewed as a watchable thriller.
But therein lies the rub: it deals with an unpleasant and controversial subject.
And that means the gung-ho action littering every other scene demeans it as a historical treatise, and undermines its attempt to answer the questions students of the period may pose.
Glossily produced, performances from Martina Gedeck as Ulrike Meinhof and Moritz Bleibtreu as Andreas Baader as the two leading left-wing terrorists of the gang that later became known as the Red Army Faction give it a sheen that perhaps they do not deserve.
Their aim is to create a more human society, but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz).
Director Christopher Roth takes us from the gang’s inception after the death of a non-violent protester campaigning against a visit to West Germany by the Shah of Persia, through their violent campaigns to overthrow West Germany’s capitalist state.
The civil strife of the 1970s by the terrorists who bought death to the streets of Europe is now seen as fertile ground for film-makers. According to some German political commentators this film rubs salt into still-raw wounds. Producer Bernd Eichinger is no stranger to tricky topics: his film Downfall brilliantly told the story of Hitler’s last days in his German bunker. This film has the same high production values and is very watchable.

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