'The Baader Meinhof Complex' Review

The Baader Meinhof Complex depicts the West German terrorist group of the 1970s. Vinzenz Kiefer, left, and Hannes Wegener, on car, play group members. Watch the trailer: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-baader-meinhof-complex-der-baader/36108/main

..The trailer gives you a good idea of this powerful German film that was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar and is now being distributed in this country. It plays like a cross between a crime thriller and a documentary, and grabs onto you like watching a good episode of a Law & Order show but with more depth & and more explosive. I remember hearing about this gang of German terrorists (also known as part of the Red Army Faction) during the 60's. You can do a Wikipedia search about the Baader Meinhof group and the film stays pretty much to the facts.
>>Ulrike Meinhof was a famous journalist sympathetic to anti-government causes and helped the charismatic Andreas Baader escape from police custody and gave up her career and family to join his group in 1967. She wrote articles defending their practices which were supposed to be non-violent but ballooned out of control causing the deaths and injuries to their targets and non-targets. They robbed banks to finance their activities, blew up buildings, and kidnapped and/or killed officials. Amazingly many citizens were sympathetic to their cause.

>>We see their planning and infighting in achieving their twisted goals and also their capture, trials, and deaths at various times. The pacing brings enough excitement to a film almost two and a half hours and keeps you in suspense until the end. The cast is very good including Bruno Ganz as a wise government official who's in charge of the hunt against them. Because of their acting, you almost begin to care for some of the terrorists until they do something repulsive.
>>Don't let the subtitles scare you away from this absorbing production.