Violent Legacies: Who, If Not Us? (2011)

When:
16 May 2014 @ 19:30 – 21:00
2014-05-16T19:30:00+01:00
2014-05-16T21:00:00+01:00
Where:
Summerhall
Edinburgh
City of Edinburgh EH9 1PL
UK
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Dr Dora Osborne

Like The Baader-Meinhof Complex Uli Edel’s box office hit of 2008, If Not Us, Who? (2011) is a film about the Red Army Faction, the left-wing terrorist movement that emerged in West Germany in the 1960s. But it takes a different perspective, focusing on the events that precede the more familiar and sensational narrative of the RAF. In particular, it tells the story of Bernward Vesper, a writer who struggles with the legacy of his pro-Nazi father and the pressure of his peers to be part of the growing political resistance of the time. For Vesper, writing is a political act, but for his partner Gudrun Ensslin, this is not enough: she leaves him for Andreas Baader and the RAF. If Not Us, Who? is the first feature film by Andres Veiel, who is known first and foremost as a documentary maker, but archival footage is an important feature nevertheless, used here to chart political history.

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