"Stammheim - Die Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe vor Gericht" or "Stammheim - The Baader-Meinhof Gang on Trial" or just "Stammheim" is a German film from 1986, which means it has its 30th anniversary this year. The writer is Stefan Aust and the director is Reinhard Hauff and for both it is among their most known cinematic works today. If you know a bit about German history, you will immediately realize from the title that this is about one of the darkest times in German history: the days of left-wing terrorism from the RAF. This 105-minute film, however, is not about what they did, but it is a reconstruction of the trial against the members Baader, Meinhof, Ensslin and Raspe. Holger Meins is dead from a self-imposed hunger strike right away and does not play a major role in here.
This movie is 95% courtroom scenes, so you can decide for yourself if you like that kind of approach. One who did not like it was Gina Lollobrigida who presided the jury of the Berlin Film Festival back then and announced that this film was the winner after a controversial discussion, during which she strongly opposed the win. One of the biggest scandals in the Berlinale's history. I personally think it was a good watch. I am not sure if I would call it awards-worthy, but it's an important chapter in German history and I think writer, director and cast did a decent job here. The only really known cast member three decades later is Ulrich Tukur, who plays Andreas Baader in here. It's interesting to see him in his younger days. I will not tell you if I recommend this film as you should know very well yourself if it interest you. Like I said, it is almost exclusively courtroom drama and you probably have seen the much more recent Oscar-nominated film from Germany that deals with the same issue if you consider checking this one out. If you liked that one, give this one here a go, I would say.
This movie is 95% courtroom scenes, so you can decide for yourself if you like that kind of approach. One who did not like it was Gina Lollobrigida who presided the jury of the Berlin Film Festival back then and announced that this film was the winner after a controversial discussion, during which she strongly opposed the win. One of the biggest scandals in the Berlinale's history. I personally think it was a good watch. I am not sure if I would call it awards-worthy, but it's an important chapter in German history and I think writer, director and cast did a decent job here. The only really known cast member three decades later is Ulrich Tukur, who plays Andreas Baader in here. It's interesting to see him in his younger days. I will not tell you if I recommend this film as you should know very well yourself if it interest you. Like I said, it is almost exclusively courtroom drama and you probably have seen the much more recent Oscar-nominated film from Germany that deals with the same issue if you consider checking this one out. If you liked that one, give this one here a go, I would say.