Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis

This is without a doubt one of the most painfully disturbing documentaries I've ever seen and believe me when I say I've watched a lot over the years.

The filmmakers have done a stellar job of pulling all the key events together, and making a 1hr 30min movie from what must of been over 50+ hours of footage.

If you've ever had an axe to grind with how morally bankrupt the news media is and how inept the police can be this drama is only going to solidify your position further.

I came away from this film in pain for the innocent people involved and pretty wrung out from the intensity of the situation. It has stayed with me and I've thought on it long and hard. One can only imagine how the key news men and women and police must have felt afterwards. I'm surprised if they could ever look themselves in the mirror again without feeling pangs of guilt.

The poor victims of such pointless rage makes the heart bleed. My only gripe is that you don't feel anyone was really taken to task over their poor handling of a very traumatic situation. I think I'll need to do some extra reading to find out what happened to key figures after the dust settled.

This is well worth a watch but beware of the gruelling intensity and the days of analysing you'll undoubtedly feel after viewing!!

I went to school in Bremen before departing for the United States later that year; this happened shortly after summer break. The Italian boy who was shot at the service area was a year younger and from a different district, but many people in my class were badly shaken. Some pupils came up with the idea of a vigil, a novelty at the time, and only then the school realized they had to discuss what happened. We asked the teachers why the police apprehended the criminal's girlfriend without thinking how they might react, and of course they had no answer.

Of course, the media's behavior was the most shocking aspect. Peter Meyer, the AP photographer who asked Rösner for an interview and offered the hostage takers to use his phone, is shown here criticizing the police for not addressing the criminals' demands. Udo Röbel, who guided the criminals out of Cologne later became chief editor of Bild, Germany's largest daily. And Frank Plasberg (not shown), who conducted an interview which was not aired, became one of Germany's main talk show hosts.

Given that dozens of journalists surrounded the criminals in Bremen and Cologne, they had many opportunities to overwhelm or disarm them, but chose to click away instead. And to be fair to the police, what could they do in a situation when the journalists were acting like a human shield? There was an ethics inquest, as a result of which interviews in a live hostage situation were forbidden, but no one expressed remorse at the time. Bremen's Senator of the Interior (responsible for the police) resigned, that was it. In the film, one journalist asks Degowski (who had not slept for three days) to press his gun against Silke Bischoff's neck, the striking 18yo who died during the botched rescue attempt. There were no criminal charges, and the resulting photo is still being used.

So yes, this is painful to watch and a testament to the degradation of news media, which was only beginning. However, the lack of commentary comes across as cheap. Why did they not ask the journalists for comment given how well-known they became through this event?

I never would have expected that a movie / documentary created by only using news snip-its, could be so good.

It is the first time that I see this type of documentary, and the story just captures you. I never before heard of the events so I was really at the edge of my seat, watching how the situation would develop.

This was a very compelling and intense watch!

Mainly because this documentary was made with only authentic news fragments, press footage and police communication without any narration.

The disgusting behavior of the press and the public and the amateurish way the police handled this situation made my blood boil.

Those interactions with the hostage takers and hostages were so bizarre to see... You learn to know the hostages, feel for them and hope for a good outcome. Even though you know it won't end well for everyone involved.

It all felt a bit too real (?)... :s Very disturbing!

This one will stick with me for a while... definitely worth watching!

Actually I wouldn't say there was a syndrome. It was just the first thing that came to my mind (it does sound catchy and yes the pun with Stockholm is obviously intended). It did have repercussions though. The way it was handled and what was allowed to be done since then.

Because it was quite crazy. Now there were no cell phones back then, when this happened, but rich people had car phones. But let's not get too ahead - I just said this to give you an insight what time it was and what was possible technically speaking.

This documentary tells you right from the start that it is edited from the raw material that was shot back then. Mostly video footage but also some photographs too. So you will also get original audio from back then - no commentary or anything to explain or give you an opinion on what is happening.

Of course you can argue the way it is edited is already a commentary itself. Still the happenings speak for themselves. And they tell a bizarre story to say the least. The way the police and the press handled the whole hostage/kidnap situation was ... bad to say the least. Add to that a lot of individuals who were just there to gawk ... to get excited about a horrible situation. It is by the way beyond parody to hear some of those gawkers speak to reporters (who are mostly not better as I already said): they seem unable to see the ignorance when they say no one should be there. One even admits he shouldn't be there either ... gawking and just adding pressure to a situation that was ready to explode any moment anyway. But of course he was still there ... and stayed there.

There seems to be limited series about this too. I may watch this if I get the chance too. But for now, this was more than enough madness - there is only so much a human can take - no pun intended.