Director: Uli Edel
Cert: 15
Time: 2 hrs 30 mins (German with subtitles)
As a child of the 70’s the Baader Meinhof Gang, like the IRA, is seared into my conscience. Such was their fascination that even I was drawn to reading and learning more about them.
Uli Edel’s excellent film, which was this year’s German contender for the best foreign-language film Oscar, provides a graphic account of their rise and ultimate fall. In so doing it both enthrals and disturbs. From the outside the Baader Meinhof Gang had a mythical quality, a small group of glamorous individuals fighting the behemoth of a mean and repressive state. Yet by showing us the senseless brutality of many of their acts, their complete lack of respect for authority and the unhinged state of Andreas Baader’s mind, one concludes that by ultimately committing suicide they did everyone a great service.
If I were to have any criticism it is that in trying to compress a ten year time span into two and a half hours, with little indication of the passage of time, one is left with the impression of a Germany on the edge of meltdown. The reality was anything but. Furthermore one never really understands why a group of privileged middle class students should transform themselves into ruthless killers. Were they just doing it for kicks? That said by choosing to view the conflict from both sides, Bruno Ganz playing the intelligent head of Germany’s Anti Terror Unit, it provides important lessons that are very much relevant today.
Rating: 4/5
Patrons: Approx 14
CA
