The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009)
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Reviews Counted:81
Fresh:70
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.
Theatrical Release:Aug 21, 2009 Limited
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
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Reviews for The Baader Meinhof Complex
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
 3/4 |
The 150-minute-long, Oscar-nominated foreign-language film, based on a 1987 book, has a rat-a-tat pace and a lurid, film noir quality that captures the chaos and hysteria of the era that bred and sustained them. Full Review |
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4/5 |
It's not surprising the film was Germany's 2008 submission for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Full Review |
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4.5/5 |
A richly detailed, emotionally complex, character-filled examination. Full Review |
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3/4 |
The acting is top drawer and everyone behind the camera is technically proficient with a workmanlike approach. The monumental task of editing by Alexander Berner deserves special mention. Full Review |
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3/4 |
An epic look at a recent blood-soaked episode of post-war Germany. Full Review |
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B |
Merely lets the facts of forty years ago speak for themselves, and one can't deny that its dramatization of them has enormous energy and urgency. Full Review |
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4.5/5 |
It doggedly refuses easy ways out, and it has the guts, brains and critical eye to plumb the roots of terror and its bloody consequences. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The Baader-Meinhof Complex is not an easy film to watch; its violence is ugly and brutish. And there's a lot of it. Full Review |
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Part thriller, part social history, this tense 2008 drama traces the rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang. Full Review |
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3/4 |
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. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
An exciting, infuriating, combative experience. Full Review |
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4/5 |
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. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
It does take awhile for the plot to really kick into gear. Yet the discussion of terrorist morality is interesting, and there are some very tense sequences. Full Review |
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The Baader Meinhof Complex arrives as a useful tool, a history lesson in a box, on a moment in time when actual revolution seemed not only possible but in some cases likely, in parts of Western Europe and the United States. Full Review |
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This sprawling portrait of the Red Army Faction... is neither an apologetic for the anarchist gang nor a condemnation of it, but rather a fascinating exploration of the shift in the zeitgeist of that era... Full Review |
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B |
There are some literally killer performances here, most notably Johanna Wokalek as Gudrun. Full Review |
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A- |
There'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. Full Review |
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7/10 |
Edel doesn't force an interpretation on the audience: instead his film provides an experience which raises questions rather than answering them. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
A thoroughly engrossing tale of conflicting agendas and thwarted ambition. In its verve and verisimilitude, the film recalls such classics of political cinema as Z and The Battle of Algiers. Full Review |
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There's an element of relatable humanity missing from the foundation of trying to tell a story that could have taken six hours in 144 minutes, but there's no denying the power of those 144 minutes. Full Review |
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