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The Baader Meinhof Complex Director: Uli Edel (2008) Call Number: DVD-V LD12-0223
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Image: Courtesy of Icon Distribution
Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and Golden Globe, The Baader Meinhof Complex explores the rise and fall of the West German far-left extremist group RAF (Red Army Faction). Also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, RAF intended to battle the West German establishment, and Western imperialism. Although not well-known internationally, the group remains a subject of enormous interest in Germany especially because of its members' suspicious deaths in prison.
RAF members turned to radicalism as an expression of rage against what they saw as the German government’s Nazi roots, support of dictators and implementation of generic US imperialism. Soon they were joined by an intellectual journalist, Ulrike Meinhof who famously wrote “Setting a car on fire is a criminal offense. Setting a hundred cars on fire is a political act.”
Described as “a rare epic that deserves every minute of its epic length” because of its 150 minutes running time, the film is faithfully adapted by the 1985 nonfiction book by Stefan Aust (LaSalle, 2009).
Reference:
LaSalle, Mick. “Baader Meinhof Complex a true epic”.sfgate.com. 4 Sept. 2009.
Image: Courtesy of Icon Distribution
Vulcan Demirkan-Martin
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