Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany, 2008)

This film was produced in Germany in 2008, and finally imported to the United States in 2009.

This film is unconventional mostly in it’s heroes: The West-German RAF (Red Army Faction), a communist movement that formed in West Berlin in the 1960′s. The film is based on a non-fiction book chronicling the exploits of the group, up to the suicides of the founding members and disillusion of the 3rd generation group that had been trying to free them from prison via the hijacking of a commercial Lufthansa flight. This action-packed film simultaneously glorifies and makes “sexy” the same characters and violence it seems to be criticizing, but the ultimate message, in one of the final lines of the film, criticizes the glorification of the group. It is made clear that violence only begets more violence, fascism only begets more fascism.

The film begins with a visit from the Shah of Iran, and we are shown two simultaneous protests: an open letter to the Empress of Iran by leftist journalist Ulrike Meinhoff, published in papers and read at a garden party at her home, and a catalyzing protest of the visiting dignitaries. The dividing lines of the country become apparent when police attack the protesters in a terrifyingly serene German fashion. This evokes oft-repeated images of the emotionless Nazi, setting us up to sympathize with the RAF, who see it as their duty to ensure Nazi-ism is buried deep in the ground. The scene itself reminded me of something from The Dark Knight, the surreal sense of two-dimensional villains – the guard were in finery uniforms and marched forward in formation with billy clubs slapping – and flawed heroes, clashing. Instead of a leather bat suit, however, our main characters tended to be wearing the most radical-chic of West German fashion. One of the more memorable moments of the film for me was when a young juvenile delinquent, recently escaped from a detention hall, climbs into the bath tub with revolutionary Gudrun Ensslin only to be interrupted moments later by Baader, her boyfriend. Baader briefly intimidates the kid before laughing and walking away. “Nice jacket!” the boy called to Baader’s retreating form, and Baader turns, takes off his leather coat, and throws it toward the tub. The boy catches it and wears it for the rest of the film.

The characters, “passive” critic and public intellectual Ulrike Meinhof and violent extremists Baader and Ensslin, exist in each others periphery until Meinhof agrees to shelter Ensslin and Baader after their first serious bombing of a department store. The true core of the RAF forms: Baader, Ensslin and Meinhoff, after an attempt to free Baader from prison. Meinhoff is meant to be left an apparent innocent bystander, but makes a final commitment to the cause when she jumps out the window with the rest of the crew. She makes clear her change in allegiance, although it is at first seen by the media as a kidnapping.

We then watch the various commitments, sacrifices, and final transformations of the group, evolving from principled “urban guerrillas” to a directionless terrorist group, fumbling bombings and accumulating civilian casualties with the incorporation of less experienced and less disciplined “revolutionaries,” until the bulk of the group is imprisoned.

In his Baltimore Sun review, Michael Sragow declares of the RAF characters, “no matter how analytical and targeted their manifestos can be, their impulses are private and chaotic, their worldview a mix of social-political outrage, radical-chic theory, Robin Hood fantasy, Third World exoticism and thuggery.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-ae.mo.baader25sep25,0,4151978.story

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