30 April 200930 April 2009 Main Posts The Baader Meinhof Complex Rjurik Davidson Managed to see The Baader-Meinhof Complex last night, a recent German film about the famous radical left-wing terrorist group. It continues in the recent vein of novels and films which a kind of critical but romantic view of the radical left-wing terrorist groups of the late sixties and early seventies (the Weather Underground in the US, etc). Typically, the film is light on political context. It does make some attempt to present the logic of the group, but there really isn’t much debate presented (and certainly not from those on the left but from the broader movement who I’m sure (as in the US) would have been arguing against the use of terror), and at other times the film presents the group (particularly Andreus Baader) as crazed madmen. I know a lot less about the Baader-Meinhof group than I do the Weather Underground, so I can’t comment so much on the details, but I’m not sure you’ll get a particularly deep understanding from the film. In addition, it’s pretty long, and V, who I went with, squirmed her way through the last hour of the two and a half hours. I hadn’t eaten beforehand, so was becoming increasingly cranky as the last half-hour concentrated on the various attempts to rescue them from jail. The film is particularly monotonal – lacking in emotional dynamism – preferring to concentrate on the violence and the almost thriller-like aspects rather than presenting us with more human and personal moments (Baader and his partner don’t have a single moment onscreen alone together that I can remember, for example). I couldn’t find the trailer in English, but here it is in German. Rjurik Davidson Rjurik Davidson is a writer, editor and speaker. Rjurik’s novel, The Stars Askew was released in 2016. Rjurik is a former associate editor of Overland magazine. He can be found at rjurik.com and tweets as @rjurikdavidson. More by Rjurik Davidson Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 11 November 202211 November 2022 Main Posts On the last day of Subscriberthon, our amazing online editor gives you one last (very good) reason to subscribe Editorial team What's in store for the last day of Subscriberthon? First published in Overland Issue 228 10 November 202210 November 2022 Main Posts On the second-last day of Subscriberthon, our favourite editor-duo give you reason #1002 to subscribe to Overland Editorial team What's in store for the second-last day of Subscriberthon?