The Baader-Meinhof Complex

At a hefty two-and-a-half hours, this dense and detailed exploration of a decade in the life of the German terrorist organisation Red Army Faction doesn't make for easy viewing.

Beginning in 1967 with the seed-sowing confluence of public riots, a student death at the hands of the police and the attempted assassination of a key left-wing figure, we see how a new kind of radicalism began to flourish in post-Nazi Germany.

At its heart sat the trinity of Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Gudrun Ensslin (a thoroughly brilliant Johanna Wokalek) and the older, quieter intellectual Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck). These early scenes are quite electrifying: fast-paced, intellectually stimulating and carrying the air of revolution.

Though there's never a shortage of action in the remainder of the movie, it feels less contagious once we meet the cop attempting to outwit the faction (Bruno Ganz), and events become a steady routine of bombings, assassinations and jailbreaks. Even then, there is more to come: the organisation's three key figures are tried and imprisoned and a new generation begins. It's all just too much.

The problem with all this reliance upon action, dates and detail is that - with the exception of Ensslin - the characters slip infuriatingly through one's fingers. There are probably three films in here; what a waste to roll them all into one. ·