Baader Meinhof Komplex (4 Stars)

I clearly remember the first time I saw this film in 2008. It was shown at the Empire Cinema in Birmingham Broad Street, which has since become a Cineworld cinema. I was excited about it because German films were rarely shown in Birmingham's cinemas. That's still the case today. While I was waiting upstairs I overheard an elderly couple speaking German with one another. It was something special for them as well.

The film was overwhelming, from the first few minutes onwards. I still consider the scene with the demonstration against the Shah of Iran in 1967 to be one of the best filmed scenes ever. I sat in my seat open-mouthed, hardly able to take it all in. That continued to the end of the film, even though the last hour of the film had less action. That's a "problem" with true stories. The pacing can't be planned, it just happens.

When I walked out of the cinema my thoughts were, "Wow! That's the best film I've ever seen". I bought the film on DVD as soon as it was released. I also bought the extended version, even though it's only 15 minutes longer. I watched it frequently between 2009 and 2010. Slowly my opinion on the film changed. I no longer consider it the best film ever made, or even the best German film. Today I wouldn't even place it in the top 50 German films. So what happened?

There are problems with the end of the film that I noticed when I first saw the film, but I overlooked them as artistic license. After repeated viewing the last half hour annoys me. By now it's got so bad that I don't think I can watch the film again. I only watched it today because it stars Bruno Ganz as Horst Herold, the head of the German police. This is doubtlessly one of his best performances. He's such a quiet, unassuming figure, determined to stop the rise of terrorism, but not hot-headed enough to make rash decisions. I especially like the scene where he serves his top advisers lobster soup while discussing police matters. This makes me smile. He's calm and collected, making others think he's not taking the problems seriously, but if people can no longer enjoy lobster soup terrorism has won.

To sum up my problems with the film: it's the true story of the Red Army Faction, commonly called the Baader-Meinhof Gang, from 1967 to 1977. The film begins with the visit of the Shah to Berlin and ends with the assassination of the industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer. The film is told with almost photographic documentary precision for the first two hours. Then it falls apart in the last half hour. Instead of sticking to proven facts it shows wild theories for which there is no proof.

The fact is that on 18th October 1977 three terrorists, Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin were found dead in their cells in Stammheim, Germany's highest security prison. Baader and Raspe died of gunshot wounds, Ensslin was hanged. On the same morning the terrorist Irmgard Möller was found with four stab wounds in her chest, but she survived.

A police inquest claimed that the three deaths were the result of suicide. Möller, who is still alive today, claims that she was stabbed by masked men who entered her cell at night, but this was never proved. It's impossible to verify what happened because the prison's security cameras were turned off and the security guard on the seventh floor was called away from his post for three hours.

The story that Andreas Baader and his three fellow terrorists were executed is called a conspiracy theory by those who believe the German state would never act unlawfully. I know what conspiracy theories are. They're theories that people decide to believe, even though the facts prove the opposite. In this case there are no facts that prove it was suicide, and all the clues point to an execution, so I consider the suicide story to be a conspiracy theory.

In the last half hour the film builds up an elaborate theory about how a lawyer smuggled guns into the cells of Baader and Raspe. At meetings Brigitte Mohnhaupt made lengthy speeches about Baader and Ensslin wanting to end their lives on their own terms. There is no proof for this. My opinion is that Stefan Aust, the journalist on whose book the film is based, had a personal agenda in promoting the suicide theory, and the director Uli Edel followed his thoughts blindly. The film would have been better if the deaths of Baader and his friends had been left open. It would have been more satisfying to see them dead in their cells, then see different people arguing about whether it was suicide or an execution. The viewer should be allowed to make up his own mind rather than being subjected to a conspiracy theory.

I'll end this post with a few snapshots of the magnificent Martina Gedeck playing the role of Ulrike Meinhof. She's one of my favourite actresses, and this is her best ever performance. She perfectly portrays a woman who starts out as a brilliant journalist, then becomes an author of fanatical pamphlets before finally being driven to madness by three years of solitary confinement.

These snapshots aren't just for my readers. They're also intended to remind me of her performance in this film, because I probably shan't watch it again.

I defend my four star rating. I'd give the first two hours five stars and the last half hour one star. That makes an average of four stars. Approximately.

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