Opening in Germany this weekend is Udi Edel's Der Baader Meinhof Komplex. A dramatization of the rise and fall of the West German Red Army Faction -- also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang -- that its producers insist is meant to deglamorize the 'terrorist-chic' reputation of the radical outfit, the movie has already attracted huge amounts of criticism for doing just the opposite.
Of course, it's no surprise that it's a controversial film. The RAF were, after all, bombers, kidnappers and killers, and in today's terror-stricken environment, it's unlikely that any fictional treatment of the Baader-Meinhofs, no matter how critical, would be exempt from criticism for making heroes out of terrorists. Though Der Baader Meinhof Komplex is intended to be a prestige picture (it features an all-star cast, and has already been named as Germany's entrant into the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards), it's encountering significantly more resistance than did Steven Spielberg's Munich, which covered some of the same psychic territory.
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