I’ve yet to see “Der Baader Meinhof Komplex”, a.k.a the German film that received one of the five slots for the Best Foreign Picture nomination at last year’s Oscars. The Baader Meinhof Complex also happens to be: the last of the nominations to receive its theatrical release (via Vitagraph Films on August 21st). Off hand, I could talk about Paris and the United States during the same period, but I’m not going to claim to know anything about the protests that took place in Germany. You can find the complete synopsis below and our exclusive clip. With a late 60’s decor, featuring veteran actor Bruno Ganz in the character of Horst Herold – a counter-attack unit tactician who is trying to make sure that they employ a cautionary approach and effort to understand the psychology of the enemy and using recent examples of Vietnam and Palestine in the discourse.
This is an adaptation of Stefan Aust’s book set in Berlin, 1967. Scarcely twenty years after the end of World War II, Germany is still rebuilding, but the country is yet again shaken by political upheaval. On June 2nd, 1967, inspired by the anti-war movement in America, the youth of Berlin take to the streets to protest the Shah of Iran, who is visiting the city. While German police look on, the Shah’s security guards beat the protesters with wooden clubs. One young student is shot dead by the police. Watching on television from her family’s comfortable beach house, journalist and mother of two Ulrike Meinhof is horrified by the images she sees. Determined to make a difference, Ulrike seeks out Andreas Baader, a charismatic and brash extremist. In the following months, this passionate and driven wife and mother will leave both her husband and children to join forces with a motley crew of urban guerrillas — activists determined to use terrorism to force Germany’s government to change their policies which they perceived as a fascist revival. Together, Baader and Meinhof form the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, organizing bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations throughout the 1970s.
