Indian activist Arundhati Roy has written: "There is no easy way out of the spiraling morass of terror and brutality that confronts the world today. It is time now for the human race to hold still, to delve into its wells of collective wisdom, both ancient and modern." Although there is little chance that such a pause in global bloodshed will take place, we can always keep hope alive in our hearts that one day soon nonviolence will be accepted more widely and loving our enemies (as the Dalai Lama does so magnificently) will be a natural thing. Meanwhile, we can reflect upon The Baader Meinhof Complex, a German film which was a nominee for the Best Foreign Languge Film in the 2009 Academy Awards.

This film depicts the moral bankruptcy of terrorism as a tactic of social change and as a force field of righteous indignation. It charts a decade of violent activity by the Red Army Faction (RAF) in Germany and the efforts of the German police to track down and silence the zealous terrorist movement comprised mainly of radical students of the post-Nazi generation. Spokespersons for the revolutionaries claimed that they were animated to activity in the face of American imperialism in Vietnam and elsewhere.

During an anti-Shah of Iran demonstration in June of 1967, angry students are beaten by Shah supporters. When they turn to the law enforcement officials for help, the police join in beating the demonstrators. One of them shoots and kills a young man. Rudi Dutschke gives a speech and then is shot by a fellow who hates "Communists." Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) begin a string of terrrorist retaliations by setting a Frankfurt department store on fire. Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck), a journalist, links up with them and is surprised by the righteous indignation of Gudrun, a minister's daughter who has no qualms about the use of murder in the name of their cause.

Later, the RAF goes underground and even are trained in Jordan by Fatah forces, who do not take kindly to having their men exposed to the flesh displays of female RAF members. After a series of bombings and bank robberies, Andreas and Gudrun are captured and put in prison. A new generation of RAF emerges led by Brigitte Mohnhaupt (Nadja Uhl) and Peter-Jurgen Boock (Vinzenz Kiefer) who increase the terrorist activities with assassinations of judges and others, hostage-taking in the German embassy in Stockholm, and the kidnapping of a well-known German businessman.

The Baader Meinhof Complex is directed by Uli Edel, and it recounts the wild and strange ride of this notorious German terrorist group. In the end, they succumb to the ancient shibboleth of an eye for an eye and consequently there is little room for empathy for them, even though one can see the injustices they are protesting. Bruno Ganz plays a wise old police commissioner who when hearing that members of the RAF are just out-of-control anarchists responds that all terrorist activity is planted by seeds of social unrest, poverty, and injustice. Attack these social ills and the rationale for terrorism might be weakened. It is a message that is worth pondering.


Special features on the 2 disc DVD set include how the film came about: the Baader Meinhof Complex; interview with author Stefan Aust; interview with writer and producer Bernd Eichinger; the actors on their roles; "Scoring Baader"; on authenticity; behind the scenes.