The Baader Gang is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable German thrillers (review)

Arte is rebroadcasting a very effective film this evening.

The Red Army Faction, a group of German communist terrorists, organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Released in 2008, the thriller The Baader gangfrom the director Uli Edel (Me, Christiane F., 13 years old, drug addict and prostitute…), will be rebroadcast this evening on Arte, and it is already visible for free in streaming on the channel’s website – but be careful, with a ban on children under 12 years old. First advises you.

Here is our review, signed Véronique Le Bris:

If Italy had, with Buongiorno, note Or Our Best Years, started to settle accounts with the past, Germany remained discreet (and France, downright silent on the subject). Until the sulphurous producer-writer Bernd Eichinger decided to tackle the problem head on. And when we remember that we owe him the script of The fallthis controversial film about the last days of Hitler, we are inevitably curious.

Was it to contain himself that he chose to adapt a reference book by Stefan Aust on the subject? Perhaps, but the result is of rare mastery, and undoubtedly one of the most remarkable German thrillers. Because rather than revisiting the most publicized actions of this group of young rebels, Bernd Eichinger and his director and co-writer Uli Edel want to understand. And explain why and how this generation was the first to react – albeit violently – to its Nazi heritage, to police repression, while agreeing with the international protest movements against the war in Vietnam, in particular.

They therefore return to the evil at the source when, in June 1967, a demonstration against the visit of the shah of Iran turns into a nightmare, and demonstrate how Ulrike Meinhof, a journalist known for her positions, and Andreas Baader, a black jacket little influenced by ideology, will end up meeting. For the worst ! No feelings in the escalation towards blind violence carried out mainly by women, ready to do anything to defend their cause. But the most remarkable thing about this action film remains that the authors manage to perfectly balance their words, never taking sides for one side (the State) or the other (the terrorists).