Some of my friends have praised The Baader-Meinhof Complex as a film that realistically deals with RAF both as a bunch of flesh-and-blood people and as a political reaction. Other friends were not so impressed. Interestingly, the opinions on this film have been very diverse.
I wasn't very excited by this film. As I did not know much about RAF, there is one or two things I learned by watching the film. But I do not think that I learned much about the stuff that these people reacted against. The political context of RAF was, in my opinion, missing almost completely. As political drama, this was a let down (but not really as disappointing as Oliver Stone's recent film W., which I watch today as well.) My main impression of the whole thing is that it lacked focus; the director was perhaps not too sure what he wanted to do, what kind of story he wanted to tell. Too much material was squeezed into the story.
Most of the characters very underdeveloped and as time went by I simply stopped caring about the story. (Maybe the novel, on which the film is based, has a clearer aim?) The first part of the film was all right, but the last part was a mess.
At some points, violence was romanticized, but in other scenes, especially towards the end of the film, the scenes involving violence tended to be much darker. This was one of the good things about the movie. The shift from a certain naivitety to an increasing sense of desperation and lack of control was one theme that was developed quite well.
Early in the film, we see a big crowd protesting against the arrival of the Iranian Shah. The crowd is brutally attacked by the police. That scene was maybe the best one in the film, very powerful. This particular scene had what many others lacked: tension, rage.
The lack of Concluding Judgement was also a relief. For the most part, he viewer was free to make up her own mind how to understand the story. (But I must admit that the depiction of RAF as violence-crazed kids might have involved some form of "judgement", the film hardly gives a sympathetic image of the RAF.)
The Baader-Meinhof Complex was, to me, simply a pretty dull viewing experience. Cinematography: well not really special, classy, striving towards that "documentary feel". Maybe someone else will (or have?) made a more interesting film about RAF.
3 comments:
This is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Even if it was simple fiction, that would still be so.
But for anyone with the sligthest of knowledge of RAF, it is obvious that the film is not only a simplification - that is inevitable, of course - but a deliberate attempt at downplaying the political motivations for their activities. If one wants to take issue with RAF, one should take issue with the real RAF, not a made up one.
I agree with you that the political motivation was downplayed. Even I, with a very limited knowledge about RAF, could see that.
Baader-Meinhof was bad, but I've seen worse. I talked about an Italian movie about "terrorists" a while ago (Boungiorno Notte), and that film was, in my opinion, an even MORE obvious example of downplaying the political.
So, I would merely say this in "defense" of The Baader-Meinhof Complex: in contrast with the stupid italian movie, it did not go all Dr. Phil on RAF.
Baader-Meinhof Complex was a shallow movie. But the Italian movie was, IMO, a very calculated attempt to ignore the political circumstances.
But maybe you were thinking of something else?
(but maybe one could say that Baader-Meinhof complex was psychologizing, too, even if it was not as obvious as in the Italian movie - I am thinking of the prison scenes etc. the role of which were very unclear to me.)
furthermore, I am not competent at all to spell out what was a misrepresentation of RAF in the movie and what was not. so I haven't really too say to say here.
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