History as an action film: “The Baader Meinhof Complex”

By Dan Cohen

If you’re game for a trip to Philadelphia this weekend I highly recommend a stop at the Ritz where “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” one of the most ambitious films ever made in Germany, is currently playing. If not, put it on your Netflix list. The movie is an epic chronicle of a dark period in recent history that resonates on a couple of levels.

The story covers two generations of terrorist activity that nearly sent the country into chaos during the 70s and 80s. It’s a thrilling drama with a remarkable sense of place and pacing. I saw it at a festival late last year. Despite a running time of nearly two and a half hours, it kept a large audience riveted. No bathroom breaks during this one.

In 1970 the German authorities conduct a brutal assault on a peaceful protest over the visit of the (then) Shah of Iran in Berlin. A student is killed. In the aftermath a charismatic Marxist, Andreas Baader, comes to have a profound influence over a liberal journalist, Ulrike Meinhof. These two, and, Baader’s girlfriend, Johanna, soon unite to form what they came to call “The Red Army Faction.” Trouble ensues.

Beyond the Shah and his politics lay their contempt for US policy in Vietnam. Additionally, they suspected that former Nazis supported the “imperialism” they saw at the roots of US foreign policy and were corrupting Germany’s fledgling democracy. They were partially right, but the bombings, assassinations and robberies they propagated threatened the very democracy they sought to cure. I oversimplify here, for the purposes of clarity; the movie is more nuanced on this score.

We first meet Ulrike Meinhof, her children and husband, bathing nude at a beach resort. The conversations that follow alert us to their increasing distress over the state of German society. The clumsy posture of their government further inflames them. Still, it’s shocking to see how easily Ulrike casts off her bourgeois moorings and joins up with Baader once his behavior turns criminal. But as the story goes on her obsessive nature is better illustrated.

A hot head by nature, Baader easily fits into the radical landscape of the period. At the time every western country gave birth to a similar faction or “cell,” whose stated goals were anarchy. Most of them were disenfranchised or very young. Meinhof, however, had a family and a respected career in journalism. But decisions, mostly made at the spur of the moment, result in truly dire consequences. A vow to refrain from lethal violence is quickly violated. Before too long the gang is at the center of a vortex of destruction and death… Mainly of innocents.

What follows, however, is even more disturbing. After the gang is imprisoned a new generation rises up, intent on even more ambitious acts of terrorism. Beyond that, the younger group seems almost willfully oblivious to the ideology and principles of its predecessors. They come off as more taken by the sex appeal of living underground than radical politics. Their acts of destruction escalate way beyond the scope of their forbears, with little in mind other than to pay homage to the original gang.

Director Uli Edel, who lived through the period, tries to get inside the group’s dynamic at the same time he resists the temptation to romanticize it. His strategy split critics and audiences in Europe, but there’s no arguing the urgency of his storytelling.

Bernd Eichinger, co-writer and producer, has produced a slew of popular films like “The Fantastic Four” and “Resident Evil,” as well as “Downfall,” the stunning chronicle of Hitler’s last stand in Berlin. Obviously this is a film he felt compelled to make, since he worked with Edel on the script.

The cast, headed by Martina Gedeck and Moritz Bleibtreu in the leads, is uniform. Bruno Ganz makes a strong appearance as the wily cop who does his best to keep a lid on the growing tension while he methodically stalks the gang.

Whatever else they accomplished Edel and the creative team, one of whom wrote the book on which the script is based, have succeeded in turning recent history into nail biting cinema. As things get worse we’re reminded that reality can be more disturbing and ironic than the best rigged drama. The movie is breathlessly paced. It almost demands a second viewing.

The title “Baader Meinhof Complex,” suggests a certain psychological state. That is, a constellation of events set into motion by a turn of mind. Without going into the characters’ individual circumstances, the events show how this complex envelops and influences the larger social clime.

One scene is particularly illustrative. After, God knows, how many bombings and killings, Ulrike’s parents defend their daughters’ behavior to the press as being redemptive of the German character; like she was on some kind of holy crusade. You can trust that, as survivors of a Nazi past, they believe what they’re saying. Still.

I don’t want to make it seem like this movie is weighed down with intellectual baggage; it’s powerfully absorbing as a narrative, whether you’re hip to the history or not. Interestingly, the German version runs three hours. The international theatrical release, which clocks in at close to two and a half, never flags in its intensity. The speed and vigor of the film I saw almost cried out for greater detail. I’m hoping for a DVD version with more.