Before this two-parter was shown on German TV, the director Heinrich Breloer said in several interviews that he had to wait 20 years to shoot the film, because the emotions would have boiled over again, if he made it earlier. It seems that he was right, because the interviews in the finished documentary are composed but outspoken at the same time, which would indeed have been impossible even ten years ago. Thus the film gains an objectiveness and a fairness towards all involved persons that puts similar films like the overrated and manipulative "One Day In September" to shame.
This gave a critic from the 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' the necessary distance to see that the events of the 'Hot Autumn' bear all the characteristics of a Greek tragedy. In fact, one can argue (as Dorothea Hauser did in her excellent book "Baader und Herold") that 1977 was a catharsis in German post-war history. Before that climax in the fight of the RAF against the state, the legitimacy of the monopoly on the use of force was questioned by many (as a result of its abuse in Nazi-Germany), but after that the concept of democracy became much more firmly rooted in the public's consciousness.
One question remains however: why is it that the 'Kontaktsperregesetz' and other laws are still in effect although even former chancellor Helmut Schmidt admits that he is glad, that the constitutional court didn't scrutinize the actions of the 'great crisis management group' too closely ?
If "Todesspiel" made you curious about the history of the RAF let me recommend the following movies: "Deutschland im Herbst", "Stammheim", "Die Stille nach dem Schuss" (also "Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum", "Die dritte Generation", "Die bleierne Zeit", "Die Terroristen!", "Das Phantom" and "Die innere Sicherheit"). But all these movies combined still don't give a complete picture IMO, so I hope there will be more in the future. The subject matter certainly is interesting enough.
