Sterne / Stars

Konrad Wolf: Sterne / Stars (DD 1959) with Jürgen Frohriep (Walter) and Sasha Krusharska (Ruth).

054894 / 16 / DD / 1959 / Wolf, Konrad / drama

Zwezdy / Poljettu tähti / Den påtrampade stjärnan. PC: Progress-Film / DEFA. D: Konrad Wolf. SC: Angel Wagenstein. Songs include ”Es brennt” (Mordechai Gebirtik 1941) and ”Eli Eli”, performed by Gerry Wolff. CAST: Sasha Krusharska/Sascha Kruscharska/Sascia Krusciarska, Jürgen Frohriep, Erik S. Klein. 92’. B&w. Helsinki premiere: 2 Sep 1960 – Corona – Allotria Filmi. Fair print with rainswept changeovers. Mostly in German, with occasional Bulgarian, Greek, and Yiddish dialogue. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Marjatta Leskinen / Doris Harkimo with fatal errors of translation. Viewed at SEA, Cinema Orion, Helsinki, Thursday, 19 September 1997. *** A few days during the Nazi occupation of Bulgaria. Greek Jews are being transported to Auschwitz. Walter, a German Unteroffizier, is moved from his complacency by the meeting of Ruth, the keeper of the spirit of the deported. This is a film about the dawn of conscience. The simple realistic scenes in deep focus, the expressive close-ups, the lively moving camera, the haunting songs, and the gentle style of acting are effective, the passages of symbolic images misguided. But this film by a German Jew who survived in Moscow exile is a valid contribution to the mystery of ”Hitler’s ordinary executioners”. (In order to pass for Cannes in 1959 it had to pose as ”a Bulgarian entry” to avoid West German protests, but actually it is an East German film.)