A German Youth (2015) User Reviews

Solid summary of 1970s terrorism in Germany

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 19 July 2017]

"Une jeunesse allemande" or "A German Youth" is a 90-minute documentary from 2015, so still a relatively new and fresh film. It is a co-production between France, Switzerland and Germand and from the French original title you see already that this is by a Frenchman, namely still relatively young, yet pretty experienced filmmaker Jean-Gabriel Périot. He received a great deal of awards recognition for his works already and this one here is no exception. While not scoring any attention in Germany, it got in at awards bodies all over the world, including a Best Documentary nomination at the Césars, the French Film Awards. The subject here is left-wing terrorism in Germany several decades ago. Yes the focus here is once again on Baader, Meinhof and the RAF terror in Germany. It is a subject that was done really many many times before and I would not really say that the film has anything particularly new to offer, but that's not a problem. The great quantity of old recordings still make it worth a watch and there are interesting references in terms of film, like one of the members being prolific in German (short) film too or at the very end the Fassbinder references. I believe this is very much worth watching for everybody with an interest in the subject like myself. I also liked the somewhat chronological structure of it all, but that's obviously just personal preference. The biggest strengths are the many video (and audio) recordings from a time long passed, but still in the face of what happened by violent radical left wing demonstrators at the G20 summit in Hamburg not long ago, it is still a film with current relevance and it may remind us of how we should not let things reach such a level again as during the RAF days, which is also an important message as the German main stream media basically ignore every kind of terrorism and extremism that does not come from the far right. Anyway, I am getting a bit away from the film now and that's why I will end my review now. With a positive recommendation, that is. Go see it.

It's interesting!

[Michael-AC · 9/10 · 1 November 2022]

I watch this on DMZ Docs in 2015 and it's mesmerizing on how the filmmaker able to create such captivating story!

From what I remembered, this film tell a story on youth transformation at that time from an activist into such an anarchist.

To be able to develop and tell the story from only using archival footage me is so mesmerizing, since the work must be tedious.

Since the film mostly use old footages, it could be boring for some people, but for me, somehow it doesn't look like so. Maybe because the plot used in this film that keeps me on my seat, especially on how and what events that reveals and contribute to the transition/transformation of the youth in Germany at that time.

Disappointing documentary.

[deloudelouvain · 3/10 · 30 January 2019]

I was looking forward to watch this documentary about the Rote Armee Fraktion or RAF (The Red Army Faction), the German revolutionary terrorist group founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. The RAF or the Baader-Meinhof Group was a far-left terrorist group responsible for 34 deaths, mostly during bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, bank robberies and shoot-outs with police over the course of three decades. The documentary consists out of archive footage from that time, so mostly in black and white and from poor quality. To me there was just too much political speeches that no-one understands, or that are just not interesting enough. I understand a bit of German and I speak French but even then the discussions they have are just boring to watch. Only the very last part of the documentary was a bit interesting but that wasn't enough to make this a good documentary.