Marianne and Juliane
Gudrun was a leader in a left-wing urban guerrilla organization that called itself the Red Army Faction (RAF), but was called the Baader-Meinhof Group or Baader-Meinhof Gang by the media. Gudrun Ensslin was one of the founders of the organization, which operated from the 1970s to 1998, with the peak of their activities culminating in the “German Autumn” of 1977 – a period of cooperation between the RAF and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The two organizations kidnapped former SS officeri and public business personality Hanns-Martin Schleyer and hijacked a Lufthansa airplane. Gudrun was implicated in the murders and other terrorist activities, for which she was convicted and sentenced in the longest and most expesive trial of German history beginning in 1972. She died, either through suicide or murder in prison on 18 October 1977.
Although the film title literally means “the bleak times,” it is known as either The German Sisters or Marianne and Juliane in English. The film is set in former West Germany, interspersed with flashbacks from the protagonists’ childhoods. Obviously, Marianne (Barbara Sukowa) and Juliane (Jutta Lampe) are the sisters. Juliane is the typical proto-feminist, a tomboy, who does not like to conform to the role dictated to her by her gender, whereas Marrianne seeks to please her father and always tries to behave.
Marianne’s character parallels Gudrun's. Juliane writes for a women’s magazine, while Marianne commits acts of terrorism which lands her in jail. Juliane’s magazine is the only one to counter the popular perception of her sister in the press.
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