If you throw one stone, it’s a punishable offence. If one thousand stones are thrown, it’s political action.
If violence begets violence, then there can be little surprise at how this epic examination of the notorious German terrorist cell, the Red Army Faction (”RAF”), ends up. For the opening scene contains one of the most stunningly chaotic portrayals of mob violence ever witnessed on cinema screens. In those few frenetic minutes, the audience is immediately clued into the political tensions tearing 1960s Germany apart, as violent right-wing protestors, with the support of the police, attack peaceful left-wing ones. The clubbed blows reign down mercilessly on unprotected bodies and, as the low bass-fuelled music becomes more noticeable, there is a sudden culmination in one protestor being shot dead. So, we are led to believe, begins the radicalisation of mouse-like left-wing journalist Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck).
In the following scenes, the audience is introduced to the spirited and captivating Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) and the hotheaded and dangerous Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu). These three will become integral figures in the formation of the RAF, an urban guerilla group that quickly escalates from bank robberies to bombings. The carnage that this causes leads to an unprecedented police hunt for the group’s members. However, the story does not end with their eventual capture and incarceration. For this very act brings about an even greater challenge, which this film, written and produced by Bernd Eichinger of Downfall fame, goes on to examine.
Essentially, this is a fascinating exploration of Germany as it strives to emerge once more as a functioning democratic State following the long years of the Nazi regime. As explained in the film, the likes of Meinhof, Ensslin, and Baader perceive it as the duty of their generation to ensure that their county does break free of this terrible past. In this respect, they are growing increasingly concerned by what they perceive as a pervasive right-wing media agenda, as well as the country’s support of the US military involvement in Vietnam. In one riveting montage, the growing tensions that exist around the world flash past – from the death of Che Guevara to the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy respectively. It is hard to be politically-minded and not be influenced by such developments.
Indeed, the person with the greatest insights in the film is actually the country’s police chief Horst Herold. He is played here by Bruno Ganz, who so memorably portayed Adolf Hitler in Downfall. While Herold is unrelenting in his determination to stop the RAF, he is equally the person who gives voice to the the belief that to truly stop such acts of terrorism, society must understand what radicalises people so and change itself in ways that addresses their grievances. It is not an opinion that is widely shared, though, by either his political masters or his own men. However, the wisdom of his words rings out when the arrested RAF members take on a mythical status for the generation who follow them. Their actions quickly become far more brutal and extreme than their predecessors ever were and so the spiral of violence continues.
At the same time, as frank and as vivid a potrait as this film may present of the RAF, it neither romanticises who they were or looks to airbrush their failings from history. If anything, they are shown to be a youthful group of Mao Zedong-spouting idealists drawn in almost amateurish fashion into violently striking out against capitalism, injustice, and inequality. For example, the contrast between their group and the Palestinians in a Middle Eastern terrorist training camp could not be clearer. The latter are dedicated, obediant, and serious-looking men. In contrast, the Germans are loud, aggressive, and blatantly naive. How quickly most of them are arrested upon their return to Germany is proof enough of this. Morreover, without veering into voyeurism, director Uli Edel does not shy away either from showing bloody images of the havoc that they wreaked.
Mahatma Ghandi once famously said that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. However, the “effect” that is political violence continues to be addressed whilst the “cause” of it typically goes unheeded. In this respect, it is the greatest strength of this film that it affords itself the time and space to ask probing questions of why acts of politically-motivated violence occur without being overly sympathetic to any one point of view.
On the whole, so, this is a fantastic, stimulating, and challenging film that contains many superb cinematic moments and balances its heavier ideas with some moments of genuine light-heartedness. Moreover, beyond the gravitas of Ganz, the film is also a fine vehicle for the obvious acting talents of rising young stars Wokalek and Bleibtreu.
Filed under: Cinema, Films, Movies | Tagged: Uli Edel, Martina Gedeck, Johanna Wokalek, Moritz Bleibtreu, The Baader Meinhof Complex, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, Bernd Eichinger, Bruno Ganz
