Trace of Stones (1966)

  Our continued tour of German films takes us to East Germany in the mid-60s.  This film was one of twelve (an entire year's output) that were banned by East German authorities as critical of the socialist regime.  It had an eight-day theatrical run because they had already spent the money to advertise for it, and then was promptly shelved until the Berlin Wall came down.

Told in a series of flashbacks, the story concerns the punishment of Werner Horrath (Eberhard Esche), the Communist Party leader of a struggling petrochemical plant.  Horrath had come on board to deal with the many issues, including material shortages, lack of communication between departments, and a rogue group of carpenters led by Hannes Balla (Manfred Krug).  What Horrath didn't count on was falling for Kati Klee (Krystyna Stypulkowska), the lead engineer.  Klee, Balla, and Horrath circle each other in an ever more destructive pattern, leading to the foregone conclusion of the frame story.

This movie was incredibly frustrating to watch.  The filmmakers were heavily constrained in what they could say and show, so a lot is alluded to but never makes an appearance.  Not that it made a damn bit of difference because the government shelved it anyway.  I'd like to think that if they knew that's what would happen, the writer and director would have just swung for the fences, but movies are as much about politics as they are about stories and that kind of thing just didn't fly at the time.

This is an interesting film in the context of expressions of German cinema and reflections of life at the time but not on its own merits.  Avoid unless you're taking a class.