User Reviews

"Spur Der Steine" a.k.a. "Traces of Stones" has a very interesting story. Although the film is too long, audience will get hook on its story (especially those who have a background on the Germany's history). Characters are well-defined and each represents a group in the society during that time. Hannes Balla together with the Ballas as Spaghetti Western like heroes and unruly workers give humor to some scenes. Horrath and his frail character represents a weak Party member and Kati Klee the young engineer in the site represents for the women in the GDR. Wonderful shots are used in the film. Also, the director's good idea of using a wide screen gives emphasis to the production design. "Traces of Stones" is a good film, although it was shelved for 23 years because of being judged as having "improper portrayal of the Party". It has a good blend of drama and comedy. With the film's form and styles and considering it was made in sixties, this film should be watched by everyone.

It is a funny thing about the Defa studios in East-Germany that the Bolshevist party actually paid the production of films with a critical content. Afterwards they were just not distributed, but referred to the archives by the censors. It is the exact opposite with IMDb! Spur der Steine is such a production (Karla is another). The critique aims at the party bureaucracy, that tries to stifle publicity about any immoral, fraudulent or inadequate behavior of its officials. The state ideology was a religion, with human Gods, and these can not tolerate any fallibility or nuance. She should be perfect ("the party is always right"). the producers could only elaborate on mild shortcomings like adultery and waste, since it was unthinkable to mention corruption or nepotism. In Karla the derailments occur in a school, and in Spur der Steine the scenery is a building conglomerate. The project of the conglomerate is unsound, and the party sends a political secretary Horrath in order to improve the situation. The solution turns out to be a three-shift system, which includes night shifts. At the same time Kathy, the daughter of a high-rank party official and an architect, is added to the project. The two start an affair No, not the daughter and the architect, stupid! Only after Kathy becomes pregnant, she learns that Horrath is married. The usual pattern develops: Horrath promises to break up his marriage, but does not deliver the goods. Kathy is left behind with empty hands (ponder about that one). He even serves on the party committee, that must pass judgment on the sinful young mother. Never the less Kathy continues to believe his idle promises. But it is obvious that the relation is doomed. Eventually the affair comes out, and Horraths marriage collapses. But it also kills the intense passions ("It is too late"). Kathy departs to elsewhere, and Horrath is demoted - although his productive qualities are acknowledged. And no, the film is not witty. What remains is the embarrassment of the party management, that fears to have lost its credibility. The pleasant part of the story is the leader Hannes ("Balla", the illustrious Manfred Krug) of a building brigade, himself not a party member, but a "rebel without a cause". Amazing! Is there a hidden message? It is obvious that you can not build a society on illusions. Beliefs lack curiosity and the capacity to renovate. And humor. Joke from during the revolution of 1990: "Now many say the truth without getting red". My version does not have English subtitles. If you are curious about law-abiding films from East-Germany, consider seeing "Schlosser und Katen" (with subtitles!). It is nice to know what has been said.

"Spur der Steine" or "Trace of Stones" is an East German black-and-white film, which is going to have its 50th anniversary next year. The writer and director is Frank Beyer, possibly the most successful filmmaker from the GDR, not only because of this movie here, but also because of the Oscar-nominated "Jacob, the Liar" from almost 10 years later. Anyway, this one here has Manfred Krug in the lead role. He is retired now, almost 80, but was among Germany's most known actors for a long time, especially in terms of television. in this film here he is still only 30 and plays a worked in a GDR factory. Things become chaotic when a woman starts working there and this is basically all this movie is about. I remember being told how significant it was and that we even watched it at school.

I could not see what the hype was about back then and I cannot see it now. This film clearly crosses the 2-hour mark, but I found neither any of the characters nor the story interesting enough for such a runtime. And even with all the power games and possible political impact etc, it still has a pretty weak romance plot. I usually like Krug much more than in this one. He had decent physical presence as always, but in terms of range I did not find him very convincing. Then again, his character was not written really well. And the constant mention of "Balla" got pretty annoying at some point. The other characters were never really mentioned by name and Balla maybe 50 times, probably so that we won't forget who the star here is. Then again, the other characters are even less interesting. This film is by no means a must see, not even for people who have an interest in German history. Not recommended and I really hope Beyer's other works are better than this one here. Very overrated piece.