Hard to Be a God (2013)
aka Trudno byt bogom
Genre: Drama | Sci-Fi
Country: Russia | Director: Aleksey German
Language: Russian | Subtitles: English (Optional, embedded in Mkv file)
Aspect ratio: Widescreen 1.66:1 | Length: 177mn
Bdrip H264 Mkv – 1800×1080 – 23.976fps – 8.08gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2328813/
A group of scientists is sent to the planet Arkanar to help the local civilization, which is in the Medieval phase of its own history, to find the right path to progress. Their task is a difficult one: they cannot interfere violently and in no case can they kill. The scientist Rumata tries to save the local intellectuals from their punishment and cannot avoid taking a position. As if the question were: what would you do in God’s place? Director’s statement Aleksei wanted to make this film his entire life. The road was a long one. This is not a film about cruelty, but about love. A love that was there, tangible, alive, and that resisted through the hardest of conditions.
An indescribably absurd and immersive vision of hell (or is it heaven?). Animals, shit, spit, dirt, beards, blood, organs, maggots, snow, metal, wood, smoke, fog, rain, more animals, and way more blood. The mise-en-scene is astounding in its depth, detail, and blocking. Let madness reign.
https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt1528313/
Rien à déclarer
Absolutely hated this one, and having to endure its 3 hours — mainly as a function of curiosity and dogged persistence. Pay VERY close attention to that 2nd. paragraph of description above, because wallowing in that is ENTIRELY what you will get from this. There is virtually no evident SF content, so I think it must betray the source material. (A Strugatsky’s novel ?) And with no apparent tech being employed, how could the “visitors” be recording any of this ? Point of view problems, for sure. And the narrative is quite opaque, creating further distance.
Another director made a version of this around 1989 or so. I’ll still be curious to compare that one.
https://myduckisdead.org/hard-to-be-a-god-1989-peter-fleischmann/