Black Gravel (Blu-ray)

This is a hard-hitting, realistic drama by Helmut Kaeutner that covers perhaps too much territory as it looks at the failing morality of a small German village, caught in the fever of material gain. The U.S. is building a military base nearby in cooperation with the Germans, a base for launching rockets. Along with the copious and rapid flow of dollars into the economy come nightclubs and bars, prostitution, and black-market deals for those who would get rich quick. Among the latter are some Germans making a good profit illicitly selling the gravel that is destined for the construction of the military base to other buyers. The story focuses on a truckdriver, Robert Neidhardt (Helmut Wildt), who is connected to the wheeling part of the dealing.