The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)

Every Friday night, a group of politically-minded Clarkies and Worcesterites gather in someone's living room to watch a rad movie. It is a new endeavor by a friend of mine and I am pleased to be a part of it (feel free to let me know if you're interested!) The other week I realized they were viewing Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex and I had to go! The film is a fictionalized look at Germany's terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF) - a communist, anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group that, not surprisingly, is not well-known about in America. Professor Rocheleau was actually there and explained how, in the '70s, she did try to get information on the RAF but found it to be extremely difficult.

The film is based on the 1985 non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust. Obviously, there is a lot of fact versus dramatization in this film and no one really knows what happened within the groups meetings (although, when they are in prison of course they were being watched.) We had a couple folks there who had done extensive research into the RAF after the first time they viewed this film - they tended to agree that the chaos on screen reflected the reality of the situation. The rhetoric the RAF put out is very dense and hard understand, and it seemed that their actions were not always well thought out. They needed a better strategy - and the further generations of the RAF continued in rather chaotic, ineffective methods once the originals were in prison. The post-viewing discussion centered around effective strategies and everyone's personal thoughts on violence versus non-violence - always an unresolved debate in today's activism. Clearly, though, this groups violent tactics were largely ineffective.

We were told that the overly dramatic depiction of Andreas Baader seemed fairly accurate. His lover, Gudrun Ensslin, was really the only person able to reason with him or calm him down and he was incredibly misogynistic and rude even to her. Ensslin was, in reality, probably more of the leader of the RAF than Baader, but it makes sense for a film to portray the crazy male as the group's ringleader. The gender dynamics were actually highly interesting - a radical communist misogynist? Really? There is a scene where he yells at the ladies, berating the women's movement (I can't recall why). It is rather dumbfounding.

I'm not entirely sure what to write about Ulrike Meinhof (played by Martina Gedeck) so I will just say that her role and her story is incredibly fascinating. She is the left-wing journalist who begins innocently, but becomes a full fledged member of the group - hence her name in the title. As I said, though, Ensslin was far more of a leader. The "Baader-Meinhof Group" term was used by the media in attempts to delegitimize/devalue the RAF. None of the members would ever use that phrase.

There is a LOT going on in this film and honestly, I do not know that much about the political climate of this time so it was not always easy for me to understand, but the film does give a wonderful sense of the frustration of the German people. At the beginning of the RAF's attacks, there was actually great support for them. Our class is reading a lot about the psychology of the German people and I think further investigation of attitudes towards the RAF could be quite interesting. Furthermore, I find it fascinating that there are so many German productions about the RAF, a few Swiss, a BBC documentary - I don't think there has been an American take on it. This particular film was German's submission to the 81st Academy Awards (the year Hugh Jackman hosted and Slumdog won everything) - so, were they proud of the film itself, the history or both?

The film is on Netflix Instant for those who are interested. Fair warning - it is quite long - 150 minutes.