Now at the Movies: SPK Komplex (SPK Complex)

The Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv (SPK), an association of at times 500 mentally ill people, was founded in Heidelberg in 1970. At its center was Dr. Wolfgang Huber who was persuaded that anti-psychiatric self-determination and revolutionary agitation have to go together. "Turn your illness into a weapon" became a motto for the SPK: When the system is the cause of ill-being, then only curing a sick and pathogenic society can make individual healing possible. Gerd Kroske's documentary "SPK Komplex" ("SPK Complex") looks closely into the subject and is driven by the question which processes could lead to a radicalization of several SPK members who went so far as to go underground and join the far-left militant organization Red Army Faction. Kroske tries to get the big picture through the personal details that his interview partners, former members but also opponents, relate, and the film takes the time needed to unravel the complex SPK. These qualities also garnered "SPK Komplex" a lot of attention in the Forum section of this year's Berlin IFF – and rightfully so, we say.