You won't be disappointed!

the audience applauded

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Germans have a quality wave of movies that reached wold audience in the early 21st century, after the Run Lola Run hit. This movie is perhaps not the best of the best, but is interesting, original and gives a story of one turbulent era with great detail and precision.

Disillusioned by the actions of her government and angry after catching her husband cheating on her, an esteemed journalist joins a 1960s German terrorist group in this slick action thriller. Based on true events, the film provides both a fascinating slice of history as well as an engaging probe into what motivates the terrorists in question. In fact, the film offers an entirely sympathetic view of the terrorists, depicted here as a silenced minority who use extreme violence as a last resort in order to be heard. While there is an inherent contradiction to their actions (committing inhumane acts supposedly in the name of humanity), having the journalist in focus makes it easy to comprehend how and why they believed that what they were doing was the right thing. Martina Gedeck is superb as the journalist in question, Ulrike Meinhof, who has to make some tough decisions, especially regarding her daughters, while working out how to proceed. The final forty-five or so minutes of the film are not quite as engaging as focus (unavoidably) shifts away from her, but for a motion picture with such noticeable bias (in favour of the terrorists), it still remains a riveting affair from start to finish. Some viewers with extensive knowledge of the actual Baader-Meinhof group and the politics of the day have complained about the film condensing too much into its two and a half hour duration, however, given the length limits of a feature film treatment, the film is fairly comprehensive, or at least when it comes to exploring what might drive someone to join a terrorist group.

I easily believe that this film was the most expensive to make judging by the extravagant explosions and violent scenes. The acting, writing, and directing was all worth it. This is one of the best films in years about actual history of a the Red Army Faction better known as the RAF. It all starts innocently with the American country song during Ulrike Meinhorf's vacation with her daughters and husband on a beach somewhere. Is it Germany? I don't remember but I was troubled by the girls who played her daughters who were exposed up front. The film begins with Ulrike's involvement as a left wing journalist and slowly escalates. We realize that her marriage was falling apart. She leaves her husband and takes their daughters. She gets involved with the RAF at first by writing for them but it escalates further. Ulrike's life takes a disturbing turn in order for her to make a better world. The RAF means well but their actions are too violent, illogical, and wrongfully aimed at eve innocent people. This film is well worth watching even if you don't know German. I don't know it myself but it's a powerful tour De force and gripping film to watch at least once in order to understand human history. The actors do a fantastic job in their performances especially the leads and the director did a fantastic job in displaying the history as well. You can't believe it actually happened but it did.

If you are a leftist, anarchist, communist, historian or interested in history, R.A.F sympathizer, baby boomer, urban guerrilla sympathizer, wired different; or if you simply hate your government and like things go boom-boom and bang-bang, you will adore this movie. If you are none of the above mentioned, go watch Twilight. First things first, this is an adaptation of 'Baader Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F.' (which I bought after watching the movie) by Stefan Aust (who was in fact in touch with Ulrike Meinfoh and later the R.A.F. and later hunted by them). All the pictures and facts in the book have been depicted in the movie with astonishing accuracy. The book 'The Red Army Faction, A Documentary History: Projectiles for the People' also corresponds its credibility. So you won't be thrown in the wrong direction if you watch this movie. It is unbiased and you are free to make your own assumptions and principles. Secondly, the star cast. My personal best are Johanna Wokalek (Gudrun Ensslin), Sebastian Blomberg (Rudi Dutschke) and Bruno Ganz (Horst Herold). Of course, Moritz Bleibtreu (Andreas Baader) and Martina Gedeck (Ulrike Meinhof) and many others I don't know (as I'm not from Germany). Johanna quoting Mao, Sebastian crawling away after being shot at three times, and Bruno Ganz comprehending the political situation are some of my favorite scenes. So, summing up, we get to see how a group of youngsters who think ahead of their generation start protesting against the American and European capitalism, Vietnam War, bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killings of Che Guevara and Martin Luther King, autocracy of the Shah of Iran and hitherto politics by burning a department store, which is just the beginning of their doom. I saw this movie back in 2009. I'm reviewing it this late because of the recent hassle created by the Occupy protests. The acting is intriguing and the facts are real. You need to watch this one.