''The Lesson'' (russian: Урок, Urok, hy, Դաս) is a

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, ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

animated

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

Robert Sahakyants Robert Arshavirovich Sahakyants ( hy, Ռոբերտ Սահակյանց, russian: Роберт Аршавирович Саакянц, 30 August 1950 – 24 September 2009) was an Armenians, Armenian animator in the former Soviet Union and Armenia. ...

, produced by the

Armenfilm Armenfilm (russian: Арменфильм; hy, Արմենֆիլմ), also known as Hayfilm ( hy, Հայֆիլմ), is an Armenian film studio located in Yerevan. The studio was founded on 16 April 1923 as a production unit of the Soviet State Cinem ...

studio.

Plot

In the far future, a

starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...

arrives to orbit an unexplored

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

. A group of

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

s and thrill-seekers

lands Land is the solid surface of the Earth that is not covered by water. Land, lands, The Land, or the Lands may also refer to: Entertainment and media Film * ''Land'' (1987 film), a British television film by Barry Collins * ''Land'' (2018 film), ...

on the planet. On the surface of the planet is detected life: unknown

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

s and

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

, which look caricatures to terrestrial counterparts. A frivolous extermination of the local fauna and flora by earthlings begins. The only woman in the team becomes a witness to how the local laws of nature work: if one creature kills another, then the killer is reborn as the victim. Moreover, this rule works both for aggressive intruders and for the animals themselves. The woman tries to warn the crew, but they don't listen, and most of the crew are reborn as local creatures. Having understood this law, she decides to consciously kill a bird in order to become one, but after the shot something new happens: the bird partially returns to itself the appearance of one of the astronauts, since the first death and transformation had already happened earlier. Now he looks like a man with caricature features of a vulture. Thus, the characters learn that by killing creatures for second time, they can return the team at least in this state. Not having time to warn the captain, who turned into a kind of toad before their eyes, and wanting to return him, they exceed the necessary laser power, and many small copies of a jumping man are restored from the toad torn apart. A woman, a bird-man, captain toad's clones, and a fish-man (who fished, turned, and then suffered a second death by suffocating on the shore) flee the planet, while the other part remains on it in the form of animals. After the end credits, the viewer sees that one of the toad captain's clones has been forgotten, he waves in vain after the ship, sits down on one of the abandoned blasters and assumes the pose of

the Thinker ''The Thinker'' (french: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled tradi ...

sculpture.

Music

In the credits, the writers and performers of the soundtrack were not listed. Some identified songs used were " Rockit" by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

, "

Nightflight to Venus ''Nightflight to Venus'' is the third studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the seco ...

" by

Boney M. Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

, " Oxygene, Pt. 1" by

Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...

, " Equinoxe, Pt. 5" by

, and "

Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...

" by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

External links

* * *
Урок (The lesson)
at

Animator.ru Animator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and (to a lesser extent) the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It also includes a forum, a news block, ...

Урок (The lesson)
на

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated featu ...

* * Russian animated short films Soviet animated films Soviet science fiction films Armenian animated films 1980s science fiction films Armenian short films English-language Armenian films Armenian science fiction films Soviet-era Armenian films 1987 multilingual films Soviet multilingual films Armenian multilingual films 1987 animated films {{1980s-USSR-film-stub