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Poster for The Baader Meinhof Complex

The Baader Meinhof Complex

2008 · 149 min

A dense, gripping historical thriller that immerses you in the paranoid, violent world of 1970s left-wing terrorism, demanding close attention.

Overview
When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • bleakstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • politics
  • violence
  • rebellion
  • obsession
  • betrayal
Places
  • big city
  • prison
  • single country house
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • true story
  • ensemble
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language strong
  • Violence strong
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action6
Horror3
Humour1
Realism9
Romance2
Tension8
Darkness8
Complexity8
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
action, crime, drama, history, thriller
Directed by
Uli Edel
Written by
Uli Edel, Bernd Eichinger
Starring
Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Uhl, Stipe Erceg, Niels-Bruno Schmidt, Vinzenz Kiefer, Simon Licht
Music
Florian Tessloff, Peter Hinderthür
Cinematography
Rainer Klausmann
Runtime
149 min
Country
Czech Republic, France, Germany
Languages
Arabic, English, German, French, Swedish

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