Germany in Autumn

A genuinely collaborative movie, aiming to deal with the state of the West German nation in the months between the Schleyer kidnapping and the Baader-Meinhof deaths in Stammheim Prison. The result centres on paranoia rather than on terrorism as such. Fassbinder brings the issues squarely back home, showing himself arguing with his mother and taking out his aggressions on his late boyfriend Armin. At its best, the film argues that it's impossible to have a 'coherent' left wing position on terrorism.