Part of me wants to say skip this super long film and watch If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, which deals with the same phenomenon of people becoming radicalized if they feel shut out from the democratic process and become victims of abuse, but if you don’t mind subtitles, The Baader Meinhof Complex does take things an extra step further by grappling with the criminal aspect more. What starts as an organization understandably frustrated at ineffective peacefully change morphs into an equally reprehensible criminal, somewhat racist, definitely hypocritical and violent ineffective movement for change. For example, they extol living freely and taking what they need, but when they are robbed, they scream in childish outrage. The movie dances on the line of showing their appeal and generating disgust. Also the film briefly tackles how the legacy of Hitler had made the German people both suspicious of their government and any charismatic movement that embraces emotion. I learned something because I definitely did not know that Germany had to deal with the RAF for decades-the US got off easy in the 60s. It was nice to see Moritz Bleibtreau, whom I haven’t seen since Run Lola Run. Only watch if you have patience and time.