The Baader Meinhof Complex: Turning of the Page

Above, Moritz Bleibtreu, right, as Andreas ("Andy") Baader; Martina Gedeck as Ulrika Meinhof



Bleibtreu and Johanna Wokalek as Gudrun Ensslin

Uli Udel's "Baader Meinhof Complex" written by Bernd Eichinger and based on the book by Stefan Aust is an intense, lengthy and action-filled meditation on the evolution of the post-war left in Europe. The evening after I caught BMC, I watch "I Aim for The Stars" on AMC, the 1960 film with Curt Jurgens as Werner Von Braun, who dropped V-2 rockets on London only to jump start the American space program in the post-war era. In that film, an American intelligence officer and former newspaper reporter, who lost his wife and child in a V-2 attack cannot forgive Von Braun nor accept his "repatriation" as a nationalized US citizen. That, too, is a bit of the focus of "Baader Meinhof Complex." The first post-war generation of Germans could not forgive the ascendancy of many ex-Nazi's into positions of power in "West Germany."

America's involvement in Vietnam at the time, and strong post-war presence in West Germany, brought further pressure to bear on the situation. It was a turning of the page from the pop cultural essences of the 1960s. Right wing and neo-Nazi groups in Germany stoked the flame further, with the shooting of innocent and unarmed anti-war and anti-imperalism demonstrators. The Red Army Fraktion (faction) which is the proper name for the group, like the Weather Underground in the US, and the Red Brigades in Italy, robbed banks, engineered kidnappings, bombings and assasinations in an effort to fight what they viewed as the encroaching fascism.

Baader Meinhof Complex is a fine sequel to Edel's "Downfall" about the fall of Nazi Berlin. Moritz Bleibtreu, is over the top and riveting as Andreas ("Andy") Baader; Martina Gedeck as Ulrika Meinhof, the left-establishment journalist who becomes a central member of the group, and Johanna Wokalek as Gudrun Ensslin, who may have been the true force behind the group, are just great. So too Bruno Ganz who is an architect of the group's downfall. This is a lengthy, complex film that doesn't draw every link or connection, and so maybe a bit confusing as to true causes or root issues or responsibilities for the rise of militant left radicals in the late 60s and into the 70s. As Baader, in prison, explains to the police after watching the Lufthansa plane hijacking on tv, the 2nd or 3rd generation of the RAF are a complete unknown to him as well. Following the many deaths and much mayhem, one can only wonder ultimately who is innocent and who is culpable on either side? As the "Baader Meinhof Complex" shows, once the fire is lighted, every action, no matter how well intended, can be like putting out the fire with gasoline. Or, as the saying goes, when the tigers fight, it is the grass that suffers.