When young people turn to criminality, whether for personal gain or political statement, they're often far more violent than their older compatriots, even if the elders served as mentors or role models. "The Baader-Meinhof Complex," which opens today, looks at one of the most violent of the guerrilla groups in an exciting but often-depressing movie about a movement that was not always sure of its direction.
Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) gave their names and ultimately, their lives for their gang of rebels and killers, determined not to let Germany turn toward Fascism again. Baader, who equated killing with sex in terms of receiving pleasure. , certainly seems unbalanced, but it's more difficult to understand Meinhof. A successful columnist on a newspaper run by her husband, giving her more job security than the average ink-stained wretch, she helped Baader escape from jail and seemed as caught up in the romance of violence and political/class warfare as Caril Ann Fugate was when she hooked up with Charlie Starkweather. But perhaps it was a real belief; after all, she was willing to give up her children for adoption to a Middle Eastern group that would train them to be guerrillas in their mother's footsteps.
Both Bleibtreu and Gedeck are excellent, as is Johanna Wokalek as Gudrun Ensslin, who was Baader's girl friend and not very happy with Meinhof's presence. Bruno Ganz, as always, brings balance and a superior performance as Horst Herold, a German police official who thinks that killing is not the best way to solve problems. But given Baader's predilection for violence, there are lots of shoot-'em-up scenes and killing situations that look like remakes of "Bonnie and Clyde." Uli Edel directed from a screenplay by Bernd Eichinger, who adapted Stefan Ault's book.
"The Baader-Meinhof Complex" is a strong movie, with some fine acting and an interesting look at violence, something already far too present in our world.
At multiple locations
–Joe
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Baader is awesome! exciting, intense, informative. Highly recommended, especially if you can see it in theaters