Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

I don't normally walk out on films, but when they had a break in this 150 minute film, I got on my coat and left. It is the story of the Baader-Meinhof group and the Red Army Faction, stories that began 40 years ago.

The film is very complex and stuffed full of details - and not all of them are true, as it is docu-fiction. I don't care for this: either I want documentary, or fiction. The things that I know were false so irritated me, that I was continually asking: well, is this true or not?

The portrayal of Ulrike Meinhof is brilliant. She was an extremely intelligent woman and an excellent writer. But what exactly made her choose the revolution over her family? There are glimpses here and there in her interactions with Gudrun Ensslin. But the film takes on so many perspectives and tries to cram so much in, that I just gave up.

The portrayal of Andreas Baader is disgusting. Yes, he was a horrible person, in the RAF just to be the boss and to enjoy the violence. But his portrayal in the film is very attractive to young people, who will get a kick out of him "showing the system" that he has no respect for the rules. I felt so violently ill at this that I just could not continue to watch the film.

I must say that even though 30-40 years have passed, we still don't know what really happened. All sides played with (mis-)information. Perhaps it is still too early to put this in a film properly.

There is an interesting discussion about the film online in the Guardian.