Home-grown terrorism!

I hate not being in America for awards' season. As someone who makes a point to see all nominated films and loves the Golden Globes, SAG and Academy Awards. I feel chagrined to have to go to people.com to see who won what. And though I didn't get to see "The Wrestler" or "The Reader" over Christmas, I plan to obtain them by illegal means before Feb. 22, Oscar night.*

And speaking of illegal means, you should all cheer for Germany to win Best Foreign Film for the Der Baader Meinhof Komplex. I hear France's, The Class is way better, but I highly recommend Germany's entry. BMK tells the story of the Red Army Faktion, or RAF, a group of home-grown terrorists who blew up federal buildings, bombed U.S. army bases and kidnapped government officials in West Germany from about 1968 to 1977. They were a motley crue, made up of radical students and some professionals who seemed to hate all things "Western," "American," "Fascist," "Capitalistic," or "Israeli."

Loosely organized in different cities, the RAF found their voice through writer Ulrike Meinhof (played awesomely by Martina Gedeck. She's also the star of The Lives of Others which won best foreign film in 2006. She can do no wrong.) Meinhof is a mother of two and left-leaning journalist when she joins the group in 1969, writing missives and getting them published in major magazines. She, along with the others, feel they must "go guerrilla" and "go towards guns," if they want to bring change to their country. What follows is not only a great political intrigue story, but also a very well-done action film that follows the RAF to Rome and Lebanon, Amsterdam and Berlin. It's a romp, full of guns, car chases and explosions. And while you never exactly sympathize with the RAF (it's pretty hard to get down with people who vaguely hate "the establishment") you see how the first post-war generation of Germans could have gone a little crazy. One member explains to a new recruit, very coldly, that he joined the RAF because he grew up in a house with a "Nazi for a father." We see that he means his father was both a tyrant and an actual member of the political party. It's a chilling moment, but one that director Uli Edel doesn't sentimentalize.

The movie is long, and can be a little confusing if you're not familiar with the RAF, so a quick google or nytimes.com search could help before viewing. RAF's most famous action is probably the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane in 1977. The plane landed in Mogadishu and produced the famous image of the plane captain's body being tossed out on the tarmac.


* My birthday is on Feb. 25. I have always loved that its around the following significant events: the Oscars, Ash Wednesday and the Winter Olympics.