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

Little more than a vanity project for Bernd Eichinger

Once every few years, Bernd Eichinger feels the need to prove to everybody that he has the biggest dick in the German film industry. In order to do this, he refrains from making cheap stupid international movies like "Resident Evil" and dumb German comedies and makes a big movie that he calls important. After "Der Untergang" and "Das Parfum" we now get "Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex".

One really wonders who this movie was made for. People who don't know anything about the RAF will not understand most of what is going on. People who know some stuff about this will only find the things that they already know and experts on the topic will be horrified about the simplifications and elisions.

The movie looks great, as it should be expected. It really looks like it is from the era. All technical aspects are wonderful, the cinematography, the action, sound, effects. And the actors do an incredible job. Martina Gedeck and Johanna Wokalek stand out in this universally good cast as Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin.

Also, to be fair, it has to be said, that the beginning of the movie is really gripping and well done. The viewer gets to understand a lot about the feeling of the time and the intentions of the protagonists are well-explained.

But the whole thing goes downhill after a while. By the time Ulrike Meinhof joins the group and Andreas Baader breaks out of prison, we lose focus. Suddenly there are new members in almost every scene and none of them gets introduced properly (with the exception of Peter-Jürgen Boock). Certainly, not every character needs a back story, but it would have been essential to tell the audience at least how these recruits got to join the group in general.

By the time that Meinhof, Baader and Ensslin are imprisoned, we really don't care about the RAF any more. And this is mainly because we have no idea who these "2nd generation" people are. Even people who know about the RAF will wonder who this or that guy in each scene is supposed to be because only few of them are even mentioned by name. The assassinations of von Mirbach, Buback and Ponto are just checked off a list to get the story to completion. And the whole Schleyer-kidnapping as well as the attack on the "Landshut" which are supposed to serve as the climax of the movie have terrible timing and leave out so much important information.

But also the handling of characters of the "1st generation" is done poorly in parts. Raspe is basically absent from the movie until he gets taken in by the police, same with Meins, whose only purpose in the movie it is to get captured, force-fed and then die. Only these three scenes. Nothing more is seen of him! Neither Eichinger nor Edel really cared to explain or teach anything. The whole thing was just planned as a big production to show off 2/3 of the more well-known actors working in Germany in one movie. Even the guy who attempts to assassinate Rudi Dutschke gets played by a well known actor (Tom Schilling). What this movie would have needed is the kind of epilogue that Eichinger put at the end of "der Untergang" to show what happened to some characters and also to even explain who these characters were supposed to be.

So, we only have one more chance to find out. Since the movie is filled with well-known actors, reading the credits might help. No chance here. Except for the main characters no character name is mentioned in the credits, only the actors who showed up. To me, this is the ultimate proof that Eichinger didn't care about the characters at all, all he cared about was the actors he could squish into this movie.

There are other things that others will criticize, for example the way the victims are turned just into cardboard figures with no purpose other than getting assassinated, or the fact that the German government, which was very involved especially in the final act, is not present at all. I personally do not mind these things too much, because I understand that this is not the story the makers wanted to tell.

I only criticize the movie for what it is. A nice-looking, but unfortunately very hollow and confusing piece of work. Too bad. It was a great chance that was missed here.