If Not Us, Who?

Germany in the early 60s. The country is still quiet. But there is a sense of change in the air. Bernward Vesper (AUGUST DIEHL), son of the Nazi writer Will Vesper, is also rebelling. At night he types angry sentences into the typewriter, which he wants to hurl in the face of the ossified society. When he meets Gudrun Ensslin (LENA LAUZEMIS), it is the beginning of an extreme love story: unconditional, excessive, beyond the pain threshold. Together they set out to conquer the world. Less than ten years later, Bernward loses himself in madness on drug trips, and Gudrun catapults herself into the armed underground. For both of them there will be no turning back. WHO IF NOT WE tells of an unconditional love that is inextricably linked to the prehistory of German terrorism. In his first feature film, award-winning documentary director Andres Veiel ("Black Box BRD") illuminates the departure of a generation. Actors August Diehl ("The Counterfeiters", "Salt"), newcomer Lena Lauzemis as well as Alexander Fehling ("Goethe!") stand in front of Judith Kaufmann's ("Die Fremde", "Vier Minuten") camera for the leading roles. Other roles are played by Thomas Thieme (as father Will Vesper), Imogen Kogge (as mother Rose Vesper), Michael Wittenborn (as father Helmut Ensslin), Susanne Lothar (as mother Ilse Ensslin) and Sebastian Blomberg (as Klaus Roehler). The film is based on the seminal non-fiction book "Vesper, Ensslin, Baader - Urszenen des deutschen Terrorismus" by Gerd Koenen. Beyond the hackneyed 68er clichés, the film goes back to the beginning and dives deep into the decisive years of the Federal Republic: the early 60s.