Review: The Baader Meinhof Complex

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
starring: Martina Gedeck, Mortiz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz
dir. Uli Edel

There is a key scene about twenty minutes in: Martina Gedeck as Baader decides to use her journalism credentials to help break Mortz Bleibtreu's Meinhoff out of jail. It's set up to look like she is just another victim, so as not to be thought a conspirator. When it all goes down, she is left in a room with injured guards and an open window where the escapee and his urban terrorists just exited. She looks around at the carnage then looks at the window, taking a long moment to decide, then leaps out the window leaving us alone in the room. This is a key moment for the viewer. Will you go along for the journey, or will you walk away? Accept what they are going to go through, or write them off.

Brave, tough and divisive in all the right ways, this is a political movie in the vein of a Costa Gavras film. Delving into the factual actions and reactions of the RAF* who would later be referred to by the press as the Baader-Meinhof Group.

I can't say enough about this film. It's a great piece of work on all levels. Fantastic acting from everyone involved. The cast are given characters that breathe and live, demanding that you see why and how these people decided to form this militant organization. By any definition, they are officially terrorists, but zig-zaging throughout this world you come to understand the reasoning behind the violence. I'm not saying it's right, but I can't say they were completely wrong all the time either. When everyone, governments included, is guilty of the same crime, terrorism becomes just another word.

The trial scenes and the general break down of the group when they are imprisoned is the real meat of this picture. To witness distrust build, then go for the jugular as communications breakdown, make it more gripping than anything taking place on the outside. It's these scenes that Martina Gedeck really excels at. It's as solid as her work in The Lives Of Others (2006), if not better since she's given the opportunity to explore some very complex emotions that the former role couldn't allow for.

Director Uli Edel decided to not use handheld in this film which is a major plus. Recently we have seen quite a bit of it in order to get a documentary feel. Here, his solid camera placement and choice of fluid movements help build a drama and tension that hand-held just can't do. I have nothing against hand-held, it can be quite good, but it's the confidence of Edel's lens that help make this a superior effort.

Is there some fat on this film? Yes, but it's worth it. Sure it could be trimmed down a little, certain events that aren't as major as the central conflict could have been omitted. But why when you can get a better understanding of this world, people and what it is they are doing. In a movie that is about world perception, every moment counts.

9.3 out of 10

*Red Army Faction