On the Silver Globe (1988) aka Na srebrnym globie
Andrzej Żuławski's epic, unfinished, ordered-destroyed (which might be the reason you never heard of it), rescued, then sorta, kinda, finished (but never officially released) Science Fiction tale of an alien planet colonized by a handful of shipwrecked astronauts partially resembles The Planet of the Apes (though more closely, the Ape-inspired Planet of Dinosaurs with its castaways having to go native to survive); parts of David Lynch's version of Dune; partly the post-holocaust/primitive qualities of George Miller's Mad Max series, maybe bits of what might have become of Alejandro Jodorowski's Dune and lastly, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End.
Based on The Lunar Trilogy, a series of novels written by Żuławski's uncle, the first part of the film deals with that initial group of space travelers dying off one by one in their new location till only one is left, but not before producing the colony's next generation comprised of much too fast-developing individuals while the last survivor's life is seemingly artificially extended by the alien planet's influence. The planet's atmosphere is also pretty good at corpse preservation.
This individual lives so long that the tribal culture he partially begat begins, generation later, to forget (or more correctly, begins to refuse to acknowledge) the existence of their mother planet, and begins to worship him as a creator-god.
The first portion ends as a group of their explorers decides to cross the sea to find the land which they feel inevitably lies beyond it.
They do find it, but with it, they also encounter a native, non-human culture that exterminates all but one who manages to return to the island or continent where the astronauts landed.
All of these events are fragmentarily recorded with surviving equipment, and somehow sent back to Earth, (or more likely, simply their non-Earthly colony of origin.)
Having received the message their home planet sends a follow-up expedition in the film's second chapter which finds the colonial culture much more socially advanced than where we had left it.
The telepathic aliens, (whose sexual prowess is described as pretty incredible,) have interbred with human women and produced a half-breed race along with whom they fight the human colony.
The second expedition finds the colony's religion primed to embrace a divine savior from beyond the stars, a role that an astronaut fully accepts despite his being all too human. As it happens, his main reason for having accepted the mission was a broken heart. He begins an affair with one of the colonists' daughters.
What might be construed as the third portion of the film begins with a military expedition to the alien city, where the story seemingly branches out to scenes of an invasion of a city partially in ruins and partially abandoned; and scenes that appear to be from the astronaut's past life on Earth and of the affair which broke his heart.
Events are a bit unclear, as the architecture they find is clearly of human origin but is attempting to pass as if of alien origin. Additionally, there are missing scenes of a music hall and of a casino which are only narrated but blended with the invasion and whose visual absence adds to the lack of story clarity.
The expedition returns to their island/continent of origin to find an inquisitorial body that has been organized and is bent on persecuting infidels, with their victims impaled, stoned, and crucified.
The first part seems very much like the wistful record of an expatriate who misses his land of origin and watches as his children embrace the new culture they find themselves in at the expense of the old one. While it might not be clear from the early portions why the film was banned and destroyed it becomes immediately obvious from the religious themes present at the start of its second part and beyond.
This is a difficult if fascinating work. The visuals might be enough to tell the story, but much of the dialogues (and monologues) are internal and philosophic.
I suspect one might be able to refer to the novels for clarification, but one should likely also invest some time in Andrzej Żuławski's filmography.
Most of us might be familiar just with Possession, but it's worthwhile to see what else Żuławski directed.
This film seems like the next logical step.
Starring Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Trela, Iwona Bielska, Jan Frycz, Henryk Bista, Grażyna Deląg and Krystyna Jand.
If the sight of a crucifixion on the moon from The Ninth Configuration blew your mind, you might want to check it out.
Andrzej Żuławski's epic, unfinished, ordered-destroyed (which might be the reason you never heard of it), rescued, then sorta, kinda, finished (but never officially released) Science Fiction tale of an alien planet colonized by a handful of shipwrecked astronauts partially resembles The Planet of the Apes (though more closely, the Ape-inspired Planet of Dinosaurs with its castaways having to go native to survive); parts of David Lynch's version of Dune; partly the post-holocaust/primitive qualities of George Miller's Mad Max series, maybe bits of what might have become of Alejandro Jodorowski's Dune and lastly, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End.
Based on The Lunar Trilogy, a series of novels written by Żuławski's uncle, the first part of the film deals with that initial group of space travelers dying off one by one in their new location till only one is left, but not before producing the colony's next generation comprised of much too fast-developing individuals while the last survivor's life is seemingly artificially extended by the alien planet's influence. The planet's atmosphere is also pretty good at corpse preservation.
This individual lives so long that the tribal culture he partially begat begins, generation later, to forget (or more correctly, begins to refuse to acknowledge) the existence of their mother planet, and begins to worship him as a creator-god.
The first portion ends as a group of their explorers decides to cross the sea to find the land which they feel inevitably lies beyond it.
They do find it, but with it, they also encounter a native, non-human culture that exterminates all but one who manages to return to the island or continent where the astronauts landed.
All of these events are fragmentarily recorded with surviving equipment, and somehow sent back to Earth, (or more likely, simply their non-Earthly colony of origin.)
Having received the message their home planet sends a follow-up expedition in the film's second chapter which finds the colonial culture much more socially advanced than where we had left it.
The telepathic aliens, (whose sexual prowess is described as pretty incredible,) have interbred with human women and produced a half-breed race along with whom they fight the human colony.
The second expedition finds the colony's religion primed to embrace a divine savior from beyond the stars, a role that an astronaut fully accepts despite his being all too human. As it happens, his main reason for having accepted the mission was a broken heart. He begins an affair with one of the colonists' daughters.
What might be construed as the third portion of the film begins with a military expedition to the alien city, where the story seemingly branches out to scenes of an invasion of a city partially in ruins and partially abandoned; and scenes that appear to be from the astronaut's past life on Earth and of the affair which broke his heart.
Events are a bit unclear, as the architecture they find is clearly of human origin but is attempting to pass as if of alien origin. Additionally, there are missing scenes of a music hall and of a casino which are only narrated but blended with the invasion and whose visual absence adds to the lack of story clarity.
The expedition returns to their island/continent of origin to find an inquisitorial body that has been organized and is bent on persecuting infidels, with their victims impaled, stoned, and crucified.
The first part seems very much like the wistful record of an expatriate who misses his land of origin and watches as his children embrace the new culture they find themselves in at the expense of the old one. While it might not be clear from the early portions why the film was banned and destroyed it becomes immediately obvious from the religious themes present at the start of its second part and beyond.
This is a difficult if fascinating work. The visuals might be enough to tell the story, but much of the dialogues (and monologues) are internal and philosophic.
I suspect one might be able to refer to the novels for clarification, but one should likely also invest some time in Andrzej Żuławski's filmography.
Most of us might be familiar just with Possession, but it's worthwhile to see what else Żuławski directed.
This film seems like the next logical step.
Starring Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Trela, Iwona Bielska, Jan Frycz, Henryk Bista, Grażyna Deląg and Krystyna Jand.
If the sight of a crucifixion on the moon from The Ninth Configuration blew your mind, you might want to check it out.
statistics: Posted by hermanthegerm — 8:19 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 1 — Views 236