By 1960ies, most of Western countries had recovered from the wounds of World War II, settled down, acquired nice residences and furniture. Their children, who were tangibly provided, wanted to move beyond accepted norms and fight with injustice both internally and externally. Due to Cold War and socialist propaganda, many started to believe that Lenin, Mao, Che, Ho Chi Minh and others were / had been real "tenders" for the poor and the oppressed, hence the world revolution must be boosted...Such is the background where the Rote Armee Fraktion or RAF operated, often with fatal destruction. Most of members were probably naive and wanted to make a (fast) difference, but at least leaders got knowledge and money from e.g. Arab terrorist groups and Stasi, and when bearing in mind that "leftist" extremism has caused much more casualties than "rightist" (incl. Hitler), then I personally can't justify any violent means for improving the world - concurrently admitting that the West made at least PR and foreign policy mistakes during that period...I find the film well directed and performed, the cast is evenly strong and versatile, although Moritz Bleibtreu and Bruno Ganz were the only ones I remembered. The pace, however, is uneven: sometimes tensions fade, and the 2 hour 15 minutes film covers too long period of activities, making some events short and sketchy to comprehend. At the same time, I can realise that the filmmakers wanted to focus on members' minds and motives, to show why and how they chose the way did. Realism is still maintained (with alternating documentary scenes) and - contrary to some critics - I see no glorification of those activists, their finale is a decent warning to e.g. the youth possessing discontent with current situation in the world...

I confess an interest. I once worked with the director Uli Edel, who was then attached to my script Crossmaglen. We worked on the script at his house in Los Angeles and he was the perfect host, and clearly an amazing film maker. Unfortunately he eventually parted company with the project. Tonight I saw The Baader Meinhof Complex, which I knew Uli had directed, for the first time.It's a little masterpiece all of its own..contemporary history immortalised. I lived through that period - though not in Germany - and I remember the angst, but not how bloody and violent it all was. The movie itself is utterly gripping and one simply doesn't doubt that you're in the Seventies, from clothes to cars to just mood, furniture, curtains even. It shows in great narrative form the rise of Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, why they became what they were - the rather odd sinister West German society of the time, but also pulls no punches in its depiction of the two main players and their acolytes as vain, spoilt and horrendously violent and uncaring individuals. To see them crushed by the prison system, though, is also sobering.The action scenes are just second to none..I've had a live round fired at me and - yes - all concerned duck when being fired at as they do in this film.I end by saying I have no axe to grind or benefit to be gained by posting this review, but I wished to be honest in that I know the director. I haven't seen Uli for five years and have no commercial dealings with him. This is just an incredible film..in its way, on a par with Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers in its significance and its study of urban terrorism. I truly believe that. How this one didn't get the attention and plaudits it deserves since it opened three years ago, is beyond me. But then...I saw it tonight, so who am I to criticise? Just a must see movie. See the damn thing!!!

Most people have most likely forgotten this era in the history of Europe. But those that grew up in these times can most likely remember this well. There were of course more terrorist groups in those days but for myself, coming from The Netherlands, these were one of the more notorious groups. Although the cause was not as much the problem, the means to try to achieve this were of course totally unacceptable. The movie is a good depiction of this era and all what happened around the Baader Meinhoff group. Possibly not all fact are true in the movie but it's not a documentary, it's a proper movie with high realism. You have to see this in German of course, that adds to the realism of the movie. I think it's well played, no nonsense, believable characters. Watch it, well worth it I think!

I knew about the Baader-Meinhof gang but it wasn't the big story in the U.S. that it was in Europe. Youth unrest was widespread at the time and, although the Red Army Faction might have been the most violent group in the West, it wasn't as unique here as it was in Germany and nearby countries. So I didn't know when I went to see the film what to expect. Was I going to see an actual documentary? Was it fiction based on 'real events," an increasingly popular form that sometimes puts a premium on accuracy and sometimes on drama at the expense of accuracy. While watching the film, I had no idea how close any of it was to the truth. I knew about Rudi Dutschke and I remembered Ulrike Meinhof, mainly because she was the public face of the gang. But I don't recall knowing who or what Baader was, and I certainly never heard of any of the others. I was interested to learn afterward that the film closely tracked a major book on the history of the gang. It makes quite a good movie, and the people in it are fascinating., particularly Andreas Badder, Mrs. Meinhof and Gudrun Essenlin. Baader appears to have been a charismatic and mercurial man who is thrilled by the chances he takes. Ulrike Meinhof as portrayed in the film is smart but unstable. Gudrun Essenlin, Baader's sexy, free- loving girlfriend, is the ideological firebrand. With Rudi Dutscke in London recovering from an assassination attempt, the others may be willing participants in robbery and murder, but they are followers not leaders. The dramatic arc of this film is said to be modeled on actual events but, if that's true, history proves to be unexpected artful. Tension is sustained all the way, the major characters are highly individualized, the acting is quite good, the cinematic values are high and, while the musical choices are sometimes jarring (Janis Joplin singing "Lord won't you give me a Mercedes-Benz, the film is as the over-line says a fascinating reconstruction of a fraught period in history. Looked at from 30+ years later, the deadly career of the Baader- Meinhof crowd seems juvenile and also quaint.