The Baader Meinhof Complex
An Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, The Baader Meinhof Complex dramatizes the history of the real-life West German terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF), which rose to violent action against the German political status quo in the late 1960s. Led by Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck), a prominent journalist who forfeited her career and children to engage in anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist acts of resistance, and Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), the group's youthful members went underground, sacrificing leading normal lives, to fight for a more human society—through terrorist bombings and bloodshed. These were the radicalized children of Germany's Nazi generation and they were hell-bent on never allowing anything like Nazism to rise to power again. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force (Bruno Ganz). Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger (Downfall) and directed by Uli Edel (Last Exit to Brooklyn). (Partially subtitled)
Director:
Uli Edel
Cast:
Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz, Heino Ferch, Nadja Uhl, Jan Josef Liefers, Stipe Erceg, Niels Bruno Schmidt, Vinzenz Kiefer, Simon Licht, Alexandra Maria Lara, Hannah Herzsprung, Tom Schilling, Daniel Lommatzsch, Sebastian Blomberg
Reviews:
The New York Times, Manohla Dargis
San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle