''Inquest of Pilot Pirx'' ( pl, Test pilota Pirxa, russian: Дознание пилота Пиркса, Doznaniye pilota Pirksa, et, Navigaator Pirx) is a joint
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
-
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
1979 film directed by . It is based on the
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
"The Inquest" by
Stanisław Lem
Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer of science fiction and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical ...
from his 1968 short story collection ''Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie'' (''
Tales of Pirx the Pilot
''Tales of Pirx the Pilot'' is a science fiction stories collection by Polish author Stanisław Lem, about a spaceship pilot named Pirx.
The first collection of stories about Pirx was published in 1965 in the Soviet Union in Russian under the ...
''; the story was translated into English in the second part, ''More Tales of Pirx the Pilot'').
[Marek Piestrak: widzowie nie zawiedli]
interview by DAREK KUŹMA It was adapted for film by
Vladimir Valutsky
Vladimir Ivanovich Valutsky (russian: Влади́мир Ива́нович Валу́цкий) (25 September 1936 — 14 April 2015) was a Soviet and Russian screenwriter. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1987). Between 1964 and 2013 he wrote and ...
. It is a joint production by
Zespoly Filmowe, and
Tallinnfilm
Tallinnfilm is the oldest surviving film studio in Estonia. It was founded as Estonian Culture Film in 1931, and was nationalized in 1940 after Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union. During the first year of Soviet Occupation
During Worl ...
. Some of the studio-based filming was done at the
Dovzhenko Film Studios.
Plot summary
Spaceship pilot
Pirx is hired for a mission to test probes to be placed in the
Cassini Division, a gap between
rings of Saturn
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirel ...
, while the real secret goal was to evaluate some ''nonlinears'' (
androids with "non
linear
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...
" characteristics) for use as crew members on future space flights. The mission meets with a near disaster and the human crew are almost killed.
Upon returning to Earth there is an
inquest
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...
to determine if Pirx was responsible for the accident. Pirx recounts the events and in the end it is established that one of the robots caused the malfunction of a probe and attempted to pass through the Division to launch the probe manually, an attempt which would kill the human crew members and prove the superiority of ''nonlinears'' over humans.
[
]
Cast
* Sergei Desnitsky
Sergius is a male given name of Ancient Roman origin after the name of the Latin ''gens'' Sergia or Sergii of regal and republican ages. It is a common Christian name, in honor of Saint Sergius, or in Russia, of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and ...
as ''Commandor Pirx''
* Aleksandr Kaidanovsky as ''Tom Nowak'', neurologist and cyberneticist
* Vladimir Ivashov
Vladimir Sergeyevich Ivashov (russian: Влади́мир Серге́евич Ивашо́в; 28 August 1939 — 23 March 1995) was a Soviet and Russian actor.
Biography
He had a film career that spanned over 30 years. He is best known for hi ...
as ''Harry Brown'', 2nd Pilot
* as ''Kurt Weber'', nucleonicist engineer
* Igor Przegrodzki
Igor may refer to:
People
* Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name
* Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler
* Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling ...
as ''McGuirr''
* Boleslaw Abart as ''Jan Otis'', electronicist
* Janusz Bylczynski Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name.
It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius.
People
*Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter
* Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician
* Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic pri ...
as head judge
* Mieczysław Janowski
Mieczysław Edmund Janowski (born 16 November 1947 in Zduńska Wola) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Subcarpathian Voivodship with the Law and Justice, part of the Union for a Europe of Nations. He si ...
as ''Mitchell''
* Jerzy Kaliszewski
Jerzy Kaliszewski (June 8, 1912 – May 31, 1990) was a Polish actor, recipient of multiple awards.
Filmography
* ''Doctor Murek'' (1939)
* ''Unvanquished City'' (1950)
* ''Youth of Chopin'' (1952)
* ''Stawka większa niż życie'' (1968)
...
as ''Dr. Kristoff''
* Zbigniew Lesien
Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "ang ...
as ''John Calder'', 1st Pilot
* Ferdynand Matysik Ferdynand is a Polish variant of the Germanic name Ferdinand. Ferdynand means "bold protector".
People named Ferdynand
Ferdynand is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski (1876–1945), Polish writer, jo ...
as ''Green'', the UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Director
Discussion
In this tale Lem puts forth the idea that what is perceived a human weakness is in fact an advantage over a perfect machine. Pirx defeats the robot because a human can hesitate, make wrong decisions, have doubts, but a robot cannot.[, "Lem on Film". In: ][
Polish film critic Krzysztof Loska thinks that the film adaptation unduly shifted Lem's original focus on the definition of humanity to the trope of robot rebellion.]
Reception
''Inquest of Pilot Pirx '' was awarded the "Golden Asteroid" Big Prize at the International Cinema Festival at Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
1979.[Eva Näripea]
Transnational Spaces of Science Fiction: An Estonian-Polish coproduction The Test of Pilot Pirx (Test pilota Pirxa / Navigaator Pirx, 1978)
''Kinokultura'', 2010
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inquest of Pilot Pirx
1979 drama films
Robot films
1970s science fiction drama films
Polish science fiction drama films
Soviet science fiction drama films
Films based on works by Stanisław Lem
Films based on short fiction
Tallinnfilm films
Soviet multilingual films
Polish multilingual films
Poland–Soviet Union relations
1979 multilingual films
Soviet-era Estonian films
Estonian drama films
Films with screenplays by Vladimir Valutsky
Saturn in film
Films set on spacecraft
Android (robot) films