The Baader Meinhof Complex

The Baader Meinhof Complex

DVD Rating: **

Reviewed by: Jonathan Melton

Read Jeff Robson's film review of The Baader Meinhof Complex

History In The Making is essentially a 'making of'. This half hour feature focuses mainly on the efforts involved in capturing the time period and political feeling in the air, as well as the historical accuracy – many of the locations are the actual places where the events portrayed in the film takes place. The doc fluctuates between standard behind-the-scenes making of, discussion of the historical importance of the story, and cast and crew getting excited about being in the location where the real story took place. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer up any new or interesting information that isn’t already present in the film itself, and at 30 minutes begins to get a little repetitive.

In the 12-minute On Uli Edel, the cast and crew wax lyrical about their director, and how close he is to the project. While it is quite interesting to hear about his own background with the story – he was 20 when the events took place – hearing how wonderful he is as a director from people who are essentially promoting the film quickly gets tiring.

Copy picture

The Score unsurprisingly focuses purely on the creation of the music. Again, it’s mainly the composer talking about what he wanted the music to achieve, and the instrumentation used to do that. The Baader Meinhof Complex does have an excellent score, and this should be interesting viewing for those interested in film music, although for everyone else it may again run slightly too long at 11 minutes.

The package is rounded off by a fairly worthless filmography collection and trailer. Overall, a disappointing bland DVD for such a strong film.

Reviewed on: 20 Apr 2009
Share this with others on...
As protests against the West German government of the late 1960s become increasingly violent, a group of young left-wingers decide to take direct action.
Amazon link

Read more The Baader Meinhof Complex disc reviews:

Chris: DVD

Product Code: MP827DR0

Region: 2

Ratio: 16:9

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Extras: History in the Making, On Uli Edel, The Score, Cast Filmographies, trailer


Search database: