2008
Historical drama
Icon
R4 DVD
Reviewer: Bob Estreich
The
Baader-Meinhoff Gang, otherwise known as the Red Army Faction, was post-War Germany’s introduction to
terrorism. At first rather widely supported by Germans as an anti-American
group, its brutal acts soon led it to being viewed as just a bunch of thugs and
gunmen. How did it happen? In an austere Germany that was just glad the War was
over and was making a good job of recovery, how did this group rise to any sort
of power? This film dramatises the events but gives us a good look at the
history.
The
film starts with Ulrike Meinhoff, a thirtiish journalist with two daughters.
She believed, like many Germans, that the U.S. bases in Germany would make it a
target in a nuclear war. That war appeared to be growing closer as America
escalated the Vietnam war. She also had a social conscience that was stirred up
when the Shah of Iran visited Germany. Iran is one of the richest countries yet
its people are some of the poorest, and she wrote an open letter to the Shah’s
wife criticising her media comments. German students were against the
Shah’s visit and in a noisy
demonstration they were savagely attacked and beaten by the police. One was
shot. Ulrike pointed out that this was the sort of police state action that
brought the Nazis to power. She was noticed by some of the more militant
students and regarded as an ally.
Rudi
Dutchske, a student leader, was gaining support for political pressure against
the government. The scenes of his speech are disturbingly similar to a Hitler
rally. He was shot by a disaffected student and the balance of power shifted in
the protest movement to Andreas Baader. Baader was no Dutschke - he advocated
more direct action like bombing, but as his character evolves through the film
we see he was little more than an arrogant, swaggering thug. He didn’t care for
the political concerns, preferring to live a wild life as a psychopath. He was
a natural leader though and he attracted a small but loyal following. The
political side was handled by his promiscuous girlfriend Gudrun who could turn
anything into a political slogan, giving Baader the “respectability” to be a
revolutionary rather than a criminal.
Ulrike
wavered about joining the group but doing so would mean she would lose her
daughters forever. When Baader was arrested by the police on a simple speeding
charge, she helped him escape. On a spur of the moment decision she joined his
small inner circle. They escaped to a terrorist training camp in the middle
east but Baader decided he would return to Germany and take up bank robbery to
support his terrorist activities. A wave of robberies followed and the German
government and police had to take notice. One by one gang members were taken by
the police or killed, and Ulrike could only put this down to a lack of clear
planning by Baader. He refused to scout out each city where he would operate,
he blamed the individuals for their capture, and he became increasingly
irrational. Ulrike meanwhile continued to write propaganda for the group and
her name was now associated with Baader’s as one of the gang’s leaders.
Their
targets were changing – they now bombed police stations, the judges who
sentenced their members, and U.S. buildings. The police finally organised an
ambitious plan. They sealed off the entire city of Frankfurt. They checked all
cars at roadblocks, checked citizens’ papers, and generally made it impossible
to move in the city without an identity check. Since the gang was using false
papers it should be possible to intercept them. The plan worked. With over a
hundred thousand extra police in the city three of the remaining gang members
were arrested or shot including Baader. With the whole city now on terrorist
alert Ulrike changed her appearance and tried to escape. She was recognised by
a shop assistant and arrested. There was no escape for most of the others,
either. This time the police state worked against them.
The
end of the gang should be the end of the film, but in a final irony it covers
the murder of Israeli athletes at the Berlin Olympics as a terrorist act by the
very people who were the victims at the start of the film. The public attitude
hardened against the prisoners. The gang members were left in prison pending
their trial. Holger Meins, one of the gang, died as a result of a hunger
strike. He was not given any medical attention, but the gang members asserted
that he was executed by the police The
judge who sentenced him was assassinated the next day.
The
remaining members and new reinforcements organised a takeover of the German
embassy in Stockholm. It ended with an attack on the embassy by Danish police,
who shot one of the gang and killed five more. The injured terrorist was
shipped back to Germany for trial. The prisoners were shocked – their last
chance to avoid prison had been aborted. After three years in gaol the trial
began. Ulrike declared herself mentally incompetent to stand trial, but the
judge was unsympathetic. She continued
her political writing but it was becoming irrational, like her. She was on the
verge of insanity.
Gudrun
remained strong and proudly confessed the group’s crimes to the court. She and
Baader made a circus of the trial and provided good entertainment to the crowd
of spectators each day. Still the revenge attacks continued by a new third wave
of the group. The Chief Prosecutor was executed in his car. A banker was killed
in a bungled kidnapping. The judge was ambushed and kidnapped. A plane was
hijacked and passengers were to be killed if the gang was not released. As
country after country rejected sanctuary for the gang, the plane finally flew
to Mogadishu. When interviewd by police Baader said he didn’t even know this
third generation of the gang personally, but that his gang would not have
targeted innocent civilians. It seems the new breed of terrorist is more like
Baader himself was– amoral and using politics as a justification for wanton
violence,
Finally,
in a coordinated action, some of the imprisoned terrorists including Baader
committed suicide. With their deaths there was no longer be any excuse for the
gang to continue. Finally they realised
they had been living a lie and the “suicides” were, in fact, just that.
The
film is excellent for its development of the feel of the 1960s – 1970s period.
The concern of the German people is well expressed with broadcasts and TV
footage of the riots and bombings cut into the story. Unfortunately the film is
overlong and suffers towards the end from new characters being introduced
without explanation or introduction.
Terrorism
has for a long time been regarded as a Moslem action, but films like this
remind us that it is not so. Other home grown terrorists like the Italian Red
Brigade or the Irish Republican Army were every bit as bad. Often during the
film the police chief remarks that the only way to stop the terrorism is to understand
what the terrorists want and to remove the conditions that make terrorism
necessary. No one listens or understands.
The
film is in German with English subtitles.
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