Baader-Meinhof Complex

Baader-Meinhof Complex is a German film about the forming of the West German group Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction, or RAF). In the beginning of the film, the Shah of Iran visits West Berlin. There  is a rioting crowd which is dominantly younger Germans, who are having a large protest due to his arrival. The German police and members of what I believed to be the Shah's army, attack the protesters. This chaos results in the death of a young protester, which in turn outrages the youth of Germany. Journalist Ulrike Meinhof writes articles criticizing the Shah and brutality of the police, which inspires Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader to form the RAF. They quickly begin recruiting outraged Germans, and begin to reek havoc across Germany. They proceed to blow up a department store, as well as other scandals before eventually fleeing German to seek training in Jordan. After they return to Germany, the RAF begins a chain of bank robberies. Shortly after, one of the first members of the group is killed in a police shootout. This angers the RAF, and they begin fighting back. One by one the original members are either captured or killed, eventually resulting in the capture of Meinhof. The captured members are placed in different prisons, which cases them to forego a hunger strike. This results in the death of one member, and the rest of the RAF considers this murder. We did not make it much farther into the film, but I understood the plot to show the rebellion of the RAF, and that it only takes a few individuals to start a revolution which continues even after the original members are put out of commission.