The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008, Dir: Uli Edel)

Waiting in the lobby of the Civic theatre during the Auckland film festival, I found myself sat next to a strange individual – a lonely middle-aged man, who turned around to me and asked if I was waiting to see The Baader Meinhof Complex. I told him I was. He then asked “When does it come out?” I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. Did he mean the full cinema release, the DVD release, or something else entirely? I had to ask him to rephrase the question two or three times before I realised that he was asking what time the showing finished that night. He then tried to spark a conversation about terrorism during the 1970s, specifically The Professionals TV series. I took one last look at him, mindful that he might be trying to recruit me for his nail-bombing campaign of Australasia, made my excuses and left.

Selected as Germany’s official submission for the 2009 Academy Awards, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (to give its German title) is an epic piece of cinema – a two and a half hour retelling of West German terrorist group The Red Army Faction (R.A.F.) from the late 1960s and into the late 1970s.

Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run, The Experiment, Munich) stars as Andreas Baader, thrust into the leadership of the R.A.F. following the attempted assassination of its popular student figurehead. Under Baader’s control, and legitimised in the press by the sympathetic Ulrike Meinhoff (Martina Gedeck), the R.A.F. embark on a terror campaign involving bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations, to highlight the American imperialism creeping into post-war Germany.

Like Spielberg’s Munich, the film treads a fine line, unsure whether to depict the principle characters as Robin Hood-type everyman heroes, or callous evil criminals. Well-natured beginnings begin to crumble as their campaign intensifies and younger, more brutal members begin to join the cause.

The Baader Meinhof Complex is a very long film – probably exacerbated by the slow second half following such an exciting opening hour. The budget is on the level of a medium-sized Hollywood film, so the action sequences are perfectly executed; and as a period-piece the attention to detail is spot-on.

Bruno Ganz (Downfall, The Manchurian Candidate, The Reader) is restricted but notable in a small role as the head of the German police; but the film belongs to the young adults and their sense of disenfranchisement. It is a bloody film, and well worth a watch if only to understand the motives of a marginalised group, fighting back at what they perceive to be a fascist police state.

Thankfully, I left the cinema with all my limbs intact. My acquaintance in the lobby was just there to watch the film. Or was he?