THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX

Presented as part of our week long Persian Film Fest in FOMO Secret Cinema.

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX is a high-intensity account of the rise and collapse of the Red Army Faction, the left-wing militant group that shook West Germany in the 1970s. The film follows Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, and Gudrun Ensslin as their radical politics move from student protest into bombings, kidnappings, and open war with the state.

The film is especially relevant to our Persian Film Festival because the RAF and their allies in Europe strongly supported the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Many of these revolutionaries publicly celebrated the overthrow of the Shah and backed the new Islamic government as a blow against Western imperialism. That alliance, which looks deeply complicated and uncomfortable in hindsight, reveals how Cold War-era radical movements often made moral compromises in the name of anti-Western solidarity. The film does not simplify this history, but it places it inside a broader picture of political extremism and revolutionary romanticism.

Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, and Johanna Wokalek deliver committed performances that keep the film grounded even as the stakes escalate. The pace is relentless, with rapid shifts between police operations, political debates, and acts of terror.

When it was released, the film reignited debate in Germany about how this period should be remembered. Some critics accused it of giving the terrorists too much charisma. Others praised it for forcing the country to confront its unresolved history. Either way, THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX remains one of the most ambitious political films ever produced in Europe.