We did it: me and my better half went to the movie house and saw “Der Baader Meinhof Complex“, a film by Udi Edel, based on the book with the same title, written by Stephan Aust. I thought that with a history like my own, which brought me only one handshake away from one of the RAF members, I’d experience recognition and sympathy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The first thing that really sticks out in the film, is the naive, blind, childish, anti-social and deluded way in which the RAF “soldiers” behave. They come across as a bunch of loud-mouthed retards – with the possible exception of Ulrike Meinhof – who are playing with their own as well as other peoples lives. They certainly don’t appeal to any positive sentiment at all.
But, one gets over the annoying personalities of the main characters. The film is a very impressive document and deserves to be seen. I think it paints an accurate picture of the Rote Armee Fraktion and its “proceedings”.
I come from a slightly exo-parliamentarian political background, and I remember the heated debates, planning sessions – for the rather harmless actions – and “after the act get-togethers”, where subversive rhetoric was always interrupting sensible deliberation. We were kids and for a good part clueless, unworldly, extremely left wing, self-made intellectuals. Although effective, our meetings could have never modelled for a civilised way to have a gathering.
One thing in the film that gave me the shivers, was the casual way in which these kids were playing with their firearms and explosives. Guns were lying around all over the place and they were handled by everyone, regardless of any training they may have had. In real life, anyone with the slightest experience with guns and bullets is very aware of need of strict safety precautions. One mistake can result in an accidentally fired bullet, drilling an extra hole into an unsuspecting forehead. By making the presence of weapons so casual, the film conveys an absence of the urge for self preservation, or of a basic respect for life, quite strongly.
Another thing that was very well – and irritatingly so – depicted is the lack of consideration which the RAF-ers had for “outsiders”, be it the general public, their targets and their families or even their own people who wanted to bring something different into their discussions and were brushed off as “traitors”. Not even the commander and soldiers of a Middle Eastern training facility were spared. At one point, the RAF gang goes on boot-camp to be taught desert guerrilla tactics, like shooting AK-47′s and other entirely useless skills for their urban warfare. At the camp-site, they brainlessly trample the customs and rules to which all the other warriors abide… except for the RAF-ers. They stay together in their quarters, women with men, and they sunbathe on the roof naked, despite of the prude culture of their hosts, which proscribes segregation of male and female interns.
Had the camp been under my command, Andreas B. and his merry bunch would have been shot on the spot.
After a riveting story, told in a very in-your-face kind of way, the film ends with the suicide of the four RAF members of the first hour, committed in the Stuttgarter Stammheim prison in 1976. There is a lot of controversy going around about this, and the usual suspects have been duly identified by conspiracy theorists. Was it suicide or summary execution by the state? Well, being soldiers of an “army” with 34 civilian victims on its slate, they should not whine about it. Live by the sword and you’ll die by the sword. What does it matter, execution or not? One thing stands out above any analysis one could conjure up about this gang: they were ruthless, criminal killers, justifying their killing sprees with superfluous political rhetoric’s. And they were CERTAINLY no anarchists.
