Spacecraft are going missing en route to an orbiting space station, cause unknown, and a ban is put in force stopping all space travel until the matter it resolved. One scientist seems to know more than he lets on; what is he hiding and how does it tie in to an old aborted mission to an alien world that may have been probing Earth for decades?
This East German movie from 1972 lacks the special effects budget and technical expertise of Western movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Silent Running and so wisely keeps the effects work to a minimum instead concentrating on character. The result is a very talky film that seems longer than its 80 minute running time but it allows the protagonists to be more fully explored giving the viewer someone to connect with. Space exploration it seems is just like any other job, monotonous and often dull with the men working there wishing they were back on terra firma with their lover or son.
It’s an interesting approach, the opposite of the WOW! factor inherent in the trippy 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ending however is a let down, not in its explanation but because it finishes just as the film was getting really interesting. In fact the end of the film would just have been the start of the second act in an American movie.
No classic but it does have curiosity value for science fiction fans interested in more than just the American view of space exploration.
