I’d have been happy if this 2.5-hour film had been even longer than it is because, despite its immediacy and the skill with which the events are recreated, it only scratches the surface.
Comment
05/08/09
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009)
87
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:83
Fresh:72
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Intricately researched and impressively authentic slice of modern German History, with a terrific cast, assured direction, and a cracking script.
Australian Theatrical Release:
May 7, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $296,294
Synopsis: Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the still fragile German democracy. The radicalized... [More]
Starring: Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz
Director: Uli Edel
Reviews for The Baader Meinhof Complex
Top CriticAt its most arresting when it dwells in the ambiguity that clouds seemingly righteous action.
05/06/09
Top CriticBrilliantly made and utterly compelling from beginning to end.
05/08/09
Top CriticYou want to know more and Eichinger's script isn't even going to try to enlighten you. The action surges on to the next act of destruction, where Edel's uninflected style works much more effectively.
05/15/09
Top CriticTo do full justice to this fascinating subject, you'd need a director with something like Martin Scorsese's appetite for detail, capacity for spectacle, and willingness to face up to his own ambivalence.
05/15/09
Top CriticThe film highlights the ugliest side of human nature and as a result it is a sobering experience, reinforcing the futility of violence
05/01/09
Top CriticIn trying to cram a great deal into 150 minutes, the filmmakers necessarily jump scenes like puddles, and sometimes the audience gets lost. But I can excuse this flaw; for one thing, the patchwork or montage style provides the time frame
05/01/09
Top CriticThe Baader-Meinhof Complex is not an easy film to watch; its violence is ugly and brutish. And there's a lot of it.
10/01/09
Very good, very smart, very clear.
09/15/09
By the end you’re left with a question worth asking: What is the best way to put your ideals on the line in any country, in any era?
09/15/09
Edel uses documentary tropes to realize his overarching narrative, and the end result is an electrifying, morally complex story of the evil that men (and women) do in the name of the greater good.
09/25/09
An exciting, infuriating, combative experience.
09/25/09
It’d be nice to see an American filmmaker commit a similar reckoning with the Watts riots, the Weather Underground, or the Black Power movement, not simply resort to cant and kitsch but to really interpret those moments.
09/25/09
Edel -- perhaps wisely -- doesn't leave you much time to reflect ... as his jagged narrative rockets along like a Godard film without a subtext, propelled by violent deeds and misguided, murky, irrational motives.
09/10/09
For their part, Edel and Eichinger have given an under-explored episode in recent European history a serious and seriously entertaining treatment that stands on its own cinematically and historically.
08/28/09
Part thriller, part social history, this tense 2008 drama traces the rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang.
09/25/09
The Baader-Meinhof Complex is diluted by too many events and characters distributed over too much time.
09/10/09
Top CriticThere's a fine line to walk when making a film about outlaws: A few wrong moves and, presto, glamorization occurs. To its credit, The Baader Meinhof Complex almost entirely avoids this pitfall.
09/18/09
...a watery historic stew crammed with too many events and not enough context or character development to fill out what could have been a compelling film.
08/20/09
... an exhaustive account of how a gang of self-appointed urban guerrillas traumatized Germany during the decade following the global paroxysms of 1968.
09/08/09
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