Run time: 150 min
As a historical piece, this film try so hard to cram up so many facts into just a two hour plus plus movie. The result; for those who already know the history of RAF, this film is interesting, for those who had no clue at all about who Andreas Baader or Ulrike Meinhof is will find this film as chaotic and confusing. In other words, this piece is only for those who knows those events. This is a review from an Indonesian who had no direct experience with RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion) actions, not only that I wasn't even born that year and until now never lived for such a long time in Germany, I only knew it from books and newspapers. So I have a different perspective.
This is the story of radicalized youths in the turmoil years of Germany. It begins in 1968 as the youths protest the arrival of Iranian Shah and ended in 1977 events people called as German Autumn.
The friendly welcome of Shah by German government at that time, shooting of a student during a demonstration, police burtality, US bases in Germany being used as operation in Vietnam war and presence of ex-Nazi in the government convince this people to act in a drastic measure.
Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are the trio of left-wing radicals, fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism in Vietnam supported by the German establishment.
It looks like they had a good cause, but what they do is quite violent. They bomb public places, US Army bases, stealing cars and robbing banks, thus create fear among the crowd.
There is also another point of view, the head of the German police force, Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz). And while he succeeds arresting the young terrorists, he knows he's only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
This film doesn't shy on violence and nudity. It also tells story of the second and third generation of RAF who did horrible crimes. The story itself is very complicated, there is no introduction on who's who, everything happens so fast. This will make viewers who had no knowledge about the events more confused.
But as a whole, it is not so disappointing, it doesn't glorify nor vilify the RAF and it is full with historical figures like Rudi Dutschke and tons of the real news reel. By leaving no space for interpretation or even a slight glorification, it tells the story as it is. After seeing this film I get the impression that this youths are hardcore fanatics, their arrogance and cruelty is beyond reason. By justifying violence, these youngsters has failed to fuel politically driven terrorism as an agent of socio-political change.
Production value is stunning, you get the feel as if you were transported to Germany in the late 60s and 70s.
This is the story of radicalized youths in the turmoil years of Germany. It begins in 1968 as the youths protest the arrival of Iranian Shah and ended in 1977 events people called as German Autumn.
The friendly welcome of Shah by German government at that time, shooting of a student during a demonstration, police burtality, US bases in Germany being used as operation in Vietnam war and presence of ex-Nazi in the government convince this people to act in a drastic measure.
Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are the trio of left-wing radicals, fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism in Vietnam supported by the German establishment.
It looks like they had a good cause, but what they do is quite violent. They bomb public places, US Army bases, stealing cars and robbing banks, thus create fear among the crowd.
There is also another point of view, the head of the German police force, Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz). And while he succeeds arresting the young terrorists, he knows he's only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
This film doesn't shy on violence and nudity. It also tells story of the second and third generation of RAF who did horrible crimes. The story itself is very complicated, there is no introduction on who's who, everything happens so fast. This will make viewers who had no knowledge about the events more confused.
But as a whole, it is not so disappointing, it doesn't glorify nor vilify the RAF and it is full with historical figures like Rudi Dutschke and tons of the real news reel. By leaving no space for interpretation or even a slight glorification, it tells the story as it is. After seeing this film I get the impression that this youths are hardcore fanatics, their arrogance and cruelty is beyond reason. By justifying violence, these youngsters has failed to fuel politically driven terrorism as an agent of socio-political change.
Production value is stunning, you get the feel as if you were transported to Germany in the late 60s and 70s.
