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The Baader Meinhof Complex

The Baader Meinhof Complex
Baader meinhof komplex.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Uli Edel
Produced by Bernd Eichinger
Written by Bernd Eichinger
Uli Edel
Based on Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
by Stefan Aust
Starring Moritz Bleibtreu
Martina Gedeck
Johanna Wokalek
Music by Peter Hinderthür
Florian Tessloff
Cinematography Rainer Klausmann
Edited by Alexander Berner
Production
company
Distributed by Constantin Film Verleih (Germany)
Metropolitan Filmexport (France)
Bontonfilm (Czech Republic)
Release date
  • 25 September 2008 (2008-09-25) (Germany)
  • 12 November 2008 (2008-11-12) (France)
  • 3 April 2009 (2009-04-03) (Czech Republic)
Running time
149 minutes
164 minutes (Extended cut)
Country Germany
France
Czech Republic
Language German
English
French
Swedish
Budget €13.5 million ($19.7 million)
Box office $16,498,827

The Baader Meinhof Complex (German: Der Baader Meinhof Komplex) is a 2008 German film by Uli Edel in his first directorial project since 2000's The Little Vampire. Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, it stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, and Johanna Wokalek. The film is based on the 1985 German best selling non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust. It retells the story of the early years of the West German far-left militant group the Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction, or Red Army Faction, a.k.a. RAF) from 1967 to 1977.

The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

On 2 June 1967, the Shah of Iran visits West Berlin and attends a performance at the Deutsche Oper. Angered at his policies in governing Iran, members of the German student movement protests his appearance. The West Berlin police and the Shah's security team attack the protesters and unarmed protester Benno Ohnesorg, is fatally shot by Officer Karl-Heinz Kurras.

Ohnesorg's death outrages West Germany, including left wing journalist Ulrike Meinhof, who claims in a televised debate that the democratically elected government of West Germany is a Fascist police state. Inspired by Meinhof's rhetoric, charismatic radicals Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader mastermind the fire bombing of a department store in Frankfurt am Main. While covering their trial, Ulrike Meinhof finds herself deeply moved by their commitment to armed struggle against what they see as a Neo-Nazi Government. She secures a jailhouse interview with Ensslin and the two strike up a close friendship. Soon after, Meinhof leaves her husband for Peter Homann.


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