CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

sol- Disillusioned by the actions of her government and angry after catching her husband cheating on her, an esteemed journalist joins a 1960s German terrorist group in this slick action thriller. Based on true events, the film provides both a fascinating slice of history as well as an engaging probe into what motivates the terrorists in question. In fact, the film offers an entirely sympathetic view of the terrorists, depicted here as a silenced minority who use extreme violence as a last resort in order to be heard. While there is an inherent contradiction to their actions (committing inhumane acts supposedly in the name of humanity), having the journalist in focus makes it easy to comprehend how and why they believed that what they were doing was the right thing. Martina Gedeck is superb as the journalist in question, Ulrike Meinhof, who has to make some tough decisions, especially regarding her daughters, while working out how to proceed. The final forty-five or so minutes of the film are not quite as engaging as focus (unavoidably) shifts away from her, but for a motion picture with such noticeable bias (in favour of the terrorists), it still remains a riveting affair from start to finish. Some viewers with extensive knowledge of the actual Baader-Meinhof group and the politics of the day have complained about the film condensing too much into its two and a half hour duration, however, given the length limits of a feature film treatment, the film is fairly comprehensive, or at least when it comes to exploring what might drive someone to join a terrorist group.

Leofwine_draca THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX tells the true-life tale of a group of political terrorists working in West Germany in the 1970s. Although lengthy, it's an absolutely cracking thriller, one that whizzes through events with an incredible speed that leaves you feeling breathless and reeling from the non-stop crash-bang-wallop of the narrative events.And it's a hard-hitting film, one that pulls no punches in his depiction of the effects of extreme violence both on those committing it as well as the governments involved and the general public. It's one of those movies that cleverly takes no specific viewpoint, refusing to side with either the "good" guys or "bad", instead simply portraying things as they were.The technical values are top notch and the cast are splendid, really getting under the skin of their characters to offer deep insight. It's especially impressive given that the majority of them are unknown to international audiences, aside from DOWNFALL's Bruno Gans in a supporting role. The last '70s-era terrorism-themed film I watched was Spielberg's MUNICH, which was good, but this has that beat hands down; THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX is truly one of the greatest thrillers I've ever watched, and I've watched a lot.

RResende The history of post-war West Germany is an important piece of a complex puzzle. The story of how the federal Republic invents and fights itself to the point of mere implosion is a good synthesis of many of the inner ideological conflicts that the Europe faces today. On the other hand, the radicalized views that we see on this film are the product of how west Germans dealt with the memory of its own (by than recent) history. It is a delicate matter, one that I find of extreme importance, how one nation reinvents itself when the certainties of the past are shame in the present, and nothing in the present clearly shows how you can look at yourself in the mirror as member of that nation. As a Portuguese born after the 16th century and after the colonial explosion of the 20th century, I know something about growing inside an ideologically disfigured nation. With this in mind, what this film does is to reduce to essential terms the complex thing that we face: These uninteresting people, Baader, Meinhof and friends, stand for the disenchantment that even less radicalized Germans felt right than: Germany was after all emptied of all its might as a cultural nation, left to its own also valuable technological and material achievements. In its mad search for a superior nation, Hitler forced the Germanic world to a cultural suicide, the abrupt ending of a long road of artistic enrichment to all of us. Post war W.Germany literally bought its way out of the past, betting everything on living material quality. What is left are the wounds to scar, the disenchantment and desperation as a means to go on. When you mix that with extreme radical left wings politics, inserted in the minds of uninterested, you had just the kind of cocktail that would explode in the 70'.So, Baader/Meinhof were the more wide spoken of a series of radicals of the sort. And they probably expressed just too intensely what other non politicized Germans by be feeling as well. They are uninteresting character, whose actions were ultimately unimportant the larger view of the things. Today they matter only as tokens to the conflicts that they addressed, which were real enough to cause true pain in the souls of the German. The resolution of these conflicts, raised by the suns of the war, would define what Germany today became. The fall of the Wall only extended this version of Germany to the other side. And the augmented weight that the Union has gained in all European countries extended That notion (mixed with some old- fashioned french politics) to the rest of the continent - the UK decided at an early stage to be out of the central European core.I'm sure that much more can be said here fully directed to more specifically German themes. I'm out of that discussion.It's important to highlight how the Baader/Meinhof phenomenon is not isolated within Europe. Just a few days ago, ETA announced the end of its armed actions. That was probably the last living fossil of the mental revolution undergoing through Europe at this moment.The merit of this film is that it allows for this and other comments, and reflexion on the theme. It reminds us of this, and that is important. As a film, it's an ordinary experience.My opinion: 3/5http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

sergepesic Late 60's and 70's were tumultuous in both USA and Western Europe. Extremely conservative governments were completely out of touch with the liberal young population, and, of course, the result was catastrophic.Fighting the communists was the only order of the day, and in that battle the West went to bed with a lot of unsavory characters. We are still paying for some of those moronic decisions. This brilliant movie follows the tragic outcome of this rigid governing. Using the logical anger and discontent of the Western youth, some people with their own issues and agendas abducted their political goals and unleashed the terrorist horror on West Germany. The director paints this people as they are, dangerous and violent. There is nothing glamorous about this anti-heroes. The only warning is that when the powers to be stop listening to their young, there will be serious trouble.