An explosive performance by Johanna Wokalek gives some relief to an otherwise long and humdrum series of characters.
The Baader Meinhof Complex(Der Baader Meinhof Komplex)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Germany, France, Czech Republic · 2008
Rated R · 2h 30m
Director Uli Edel
Starring Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Uhl
Genre Action, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
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The radicalized children of the Nazi generation led by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, and Gudrun Ensslin are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
This is no art film, but Edel and Eichinger supply an action-packed, reasonably coherent account of youthful rock 'n' roll idealism run amok, and how it produced the craziest phenomenon of the crazy European far left.
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
I have seen The Baader Meinhof Complex three or four times now, and, despite exasperation with its fissile form, I find it impossible not to be plunged afresh into this engulfing age of European anxiety.
This isn’t revisionist history; it’s a key moment in political radicalism reduced to an empty pop-cultural posture.
The movie is a sweeping, hectic docudrama that would have been immeasurably helped by the use of informational intertitles.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
A fascinating hybrid of a film. Even though its purpose couldn't be more serious, its style could hardly be more pulp.
Fascinating history, very good movie -- but demanding, and its lack of easy answers will frustrate some. Lessons about 21st century terrorism are implicit, but not overly stressed.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
A taut, unnerving, forcefully unromantic fictional film.
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