loading loading...

The Baader-Meinhof Complex Details

2008 DVD Certificate 18.gif
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 8806 members

Set against a backdrop of violent political upheaval and social unrest, THE BAADER-MEINHOF COMPLEX explores the fine line between activism and extremism. It's the 1970s and Germany is a hub of terrorist activity. A group of radicalised left-wing youths, opposed to what they perceive to be the new face of fascism, form a .. Read more

Starring Martina Gedeck, Bruno Ganz, Hannah Herzsprung, Alexandra Maria Lara
Director Uli Edel
Genres Drama, Drama, World Cinema

loading loading...

The Baader-Meinhof Complex

Set against a backdrop of violent political upheaval and social unrest, THE BAADER-MEINHOF COMPLEX explores the fine line between activism and extremism. It's the 1970s and Germany is a hub of terrorist activity. A group of radicalised left-wing youths, opposed to what they perceive to be the new face of fascism, form a resistance movement to rid the country of unwelcome imperialist influence. However, it is often said that one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, so the viewer is left to decide whether these aren't simply criminals who have hijacked an ideology to legitimise their cause. Led by Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck), and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek), the group, calling itself the Red Army Faction, unleashes a wave of murderous bombings on the German capital that threatens to destabilise the country's fledgling democracy. But in their zeal to impose their own vision for a better Germany, and by employing terror tactics, the youths lose sight of the very thing they're fighting for. Hot on their trail is chief of police Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz), a man who understands the extremist mindset only too well and who will stop at nothing to end their reign of terror.
Director Uli Edel assembles an impressive cast for this adaptation of Stefan Aust's non-fiction book. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2009 Academy Awards.

Starring Martina Gedeck, Bruno Ganz, Hannah Herzsprung, Alexandra Maria Lara, Moritz Bleibtreu, Nadja Uhl, Johanna Wokalek, Karoline Herfurth
Director Uli Edel
Studio MOMENTUM PICTURES
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 25 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 18.gif
Collections 100 Hot Hits, 100 Most Wanted
Genres Drama, Drama, World Cinema
Language German
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles English
Released DVD: 20 Apr 2009
Production year: 2008
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (6) of The Baader-Meinhof Complex

    View all
  • Spiralling tensions between Meinhof and Ensslin exert a morbid fascination... The film gives us the complexity of a terrorist cell and how it operates... thoroughly researched and directed with integrity

    • The Times
  • 3 stars out of

    Strange to say, for a movie pitched as an extended historical action-adventure, director Uli Edels equally... read more on Time Out

    • Wally Hammond, 
    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of The Baader-Meinhof Complex

    View all
  • 62 out of 63 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Baader-Meinhof Complex

    This film will chill you to the bone. No pulled punches, graffic detail of violence. You soon forget it is in German. The use of news coverage woven into the action gives it a true reality that makes is impact more vivid. Wonderful movie, you should watch it!

      • A customer from West Linton
  • Most recent members' review of The Baader-Meinhof Complex

    View all
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Well made in a clinical German kind of way

    Pretty absorbing study of the notorious 60s/70s German terror cell that doesn't feel 2hrs 20mins long, but their motivation nevertheless remains a little obscure. We see an early student demo broken up with gratuitous violence by the police, who become known forever after as 'the pigs'. As with most terror cells I suppose it comes down to personalities, and if you have a sufficiently psychotic hardcore, even if they number only two or three (as in this case), they become effectively indestructible - unless, as in this case, they eventually take their own lives. From a modern perspective it's hard to fathom that in those days, the personal became so political that innocent people could be so casually slaughtered...

  • Image gallery

    View all
  • More like this

    View all

Rating breakdown

8,806 Member ratings
  • 100
638
  • 90
575
  • 80
2,351
  • 70
2,174
  • 60
1,602
  • 50
618
  • 40
465
  • 30
138
  • 20
160
  • 10
85

Related user collection

The Great Films of the Noughties (38)

Average rating: 3.84   76.8% from 73 members

by: Groovy Mule from London

Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop


    • The Baader-Meinhof Complex
    • DVD: £5.93
      Free Delivery
    • RRP £17.79 (you save: 67%)
    • Set against a backdrop of violent political upheaval and social unrest, THE BAADER-MEINHOF COMPLEX explores the fine line between activism and extremism. It's the 1970s and Germany is a hub of ...