For Reel

Director: Uli Edel

On the surface, “The Baader Meinhof Complex” doesn’t seem to distant from your average Hollywood thriller. It’s young revolutionaries are presented as rock stars – their charisma and don’t-give-a-fuck attitudes make them easy objects of our support. But wait, what’s this? They’re robbing banks, blowing up buildings, and shooting people? The body counts of, say, a Roland Emmerich film aren’t of much consequence, but “The Baader Meinhof Complex”’s violence, based on historical fact, defines the film’s central characters as far from your typical heroes.

The film, which was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar this past year, concerns the Red Army Faction, a group of terrorists that wrecked havoc in 1970 Germany. Uli Edel’s ambitious interpretation of the history begins in 1967 as young Germans protest the arrival of the Shah of Iran. Their protest is met with violent discourse by the police, brutally bludgeoning them with clubs and leaving a body count of one in the process. Such recklessness sets the groundwork for the RAF – we don’t necessarily agree with their anarchism, but we also must ask: what else are they supposed to do? The young people in the film are furious, and rightfully so.

But Edel doesn’t quite romanticize them. Yes, Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) is quite a charmer at first – but in the latter half of the film, where he, along with his girlfriend (Johanna Wokalek) and former reporter turned revolutionary Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) are captured, tried, and imprisoned, he isn’t shy of showing his characters warts and all. Now, romanticization of the violence… that’s a whole other story. Numerous bodies are thrown across the screen, ultra-stylized with a jumpy handheld camera. It’s a strange bit of pulp, neither criticizing or heralding the group in concern. The violence isn’t nearly as appalling as it should be, but it works as an unserious historical document.

The film works due to the exceptional period detail, the successful ambition of the script, and the terrific performances. The three leads are astounding, but the great Bruno Ganz also gives support as the Baader Meinhof gang’s opposition, delivering the astonishing sort of performance that you would expect from the veteran.