Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Sterne" or "Stars" is an East German / Bulgarian black-and-white film from 1959, so this one is already almost 60 years old. The director is Konrad Wolf, one of the GDR's most successful filmmakers. He was not the most prolific filmmaker, also because of his fairly early death,but stuff like "Solo Sunny" or "Ich war neunzehn" is still known today. His work here is one of his earlier career projects. He was in his early 30s here. The 1950s were of course, also in film, mostly about coming to terms with the years of Nazi Germany and World War II and this is what the film is about too. It focuses on the romantic relationship between a Nazi officer and a Jewish woman, who is held prisoner with many others. I must say I am lightly surprised that this topic has not been used in films that many times really. Of course, it is a bit absurd because Nazis hated Jews, but if you see the German soldier as an individual, which they all were, then it totally makes sense. Lead actor Jürgen Frohriep portrayed him convincingly and his female equivalent Sasha Krusharska was at least as good. What a shame she did not pursue a career in films.I also liked some of the metaphors in here, such as the use of the baby he manages to save early, but that still dies eventually because of the difficult conditions, something that can be seen synonymously for their relationship with death awaiting at the very end. I personally believe many of the early war-themed films from the 1940s and 1950s were fairly forgettable and had little to offer about the subject really, but this one here is a bit of an exception. Wolf shows his skill and Bulgarian writer Angel Vagenshtain shows us why he was asked to work on several scripts back then that resulted in a handful films that are still above-average known compared to the many GDR films that vanished into oblivion over the decades. If you like black-and-white films and are interested in the complex subject of Nazi Germany, then this one is absolutely worth checking out. This film does not even attempt to be a defining work in terms of submitting knowledge to the audience. instead it goes for the very personal lives of the two main characters and manages an emotional achievement. Good decision, I recommend the watch.