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''Dark Planet'' (russian: Обитаемый остров, Obitaemyy ostrov, ''The Inhabited Island'') is a two-part Russian
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
directed by
Fyodor Bondarchuk Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk (russian: link=no, Фёдор Сергеевич Бондарчук ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, TV and film producer, clipmaker, TV host, founder of production company Art Pictures Studio. ...
. The film was adapted by
Marina and Sergey Dyachenko Spouses Maryna Yuryivna Dyachenko (born 23 January 1968) and Serhiy Serhiyovych Dyachenko (14 April 1945 – 5 May 2022) (Marina Yuryevna Dyachenko (Shirshova) and Sergey Sergeyevich Dyachenko) (rus. Марина и Сергей Дяченко, ...
from the 1969 novel by
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 A ...
of the same Russian name, published in English as ''
Prisoners of Power ''Prisoners of Power'', also known as ''Inhabited Island'' (russian: Обитаемый остров, translit=''Obitaemyy ostrov'', ), is a science fiction novel written by Soviet authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was written in 1969 and or ...
''; a part of the
Noon Universe The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
series. It is a
dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n story set on
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
planet
Saraksh The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
, ruled by a totalitarian regime that brainwashes its citizens.
Maxim Kammerer The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
, a space explorer from Earth, crash-lands on Saraksh and becomes involved in the planet's everboiling politics. The movie was released as two separate films, in December 2008 and April 2009, respectively. The film was met with mixed reviews. It was praised for its visual style,
social commentary Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...
and being faithful to the original novel, but also criticized for its direction, editing, and casting. ''Dark Planet'' was made with one of the largest budgets for
Russian cinema The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed in the Soviet Union and in the years following its dissolution, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognized. In the 21st century, Russian cinema has become k ...
at the time (it remains the most expensive
Russian science fiction Science fiction and fantasy have been part of mainstream Russian literature since the 18th century. Russian fantasy developed from the centuries-old traditions of Slavic mythology and folklore. Russian science fiction emerged in the mid-19th c ...
film ever), and despite huge box office earnings and DVD sales the movie was considered a financial disappointment.


Plot summary


Part I

Year 2157.
Maxim Kammerer The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
(Stepanov), a space explorer from Earth, crash lands on an unknown planet. His ship is destroyed, and now he's stuck there "like
Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960s ...
on an uninhabited island" (hence the title). Maxim encounters local military police, who do not believe Maxim is alien and send him to mental hospital in the capital. Guy Gaal (Fyodorov), a corporal of the Guards, is assigned to escort Maxim. Maxim learns that the name of the planet is
Saraksh The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
, and the country where he landed is called Fatherland, because it is ruled by a
militaristic Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
of the ''Unknown Fathers''. Strider (Serebryakov), a powerful figure in the government, wants to see the newcomer; he sends one of his men, Funk, after Maxim, but as they drive the street, Funk suffers from what seems to be an
epileptic seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...
, and Maxim is left alone. He encounters Rada Gaal (Snigir), the sister of Guy, falls in love with her and stays with the Gaals. Guy talks Maxim into becoming a privateer ("candidate") in the Guards. They are forced to participate in brutal raids against the people called "degenerates" by state propaganda. After Maxim refuses to execute a group of captured "degenerates", Guards commander Rittmeister Chachu shoots him and leaves him to his apparent death. However, Maxim survives and joins a group of rebel "degenerates". During his time with the rebels, Maxim learns the true nature of the regime and the purpose of towers erected across the country. Contrary to state propaganda, the towers function as
mind control Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashin ...
devices, sending a special kind of radiation that ensures the citizens' loyalty to the regime. Twice in a day, the majority of people experience a patriotic frenzy, while minority, the "degenerates", are able to resist brainwashing, but they suffer from intense pain and convulsions. The Unknown Fathers themselves are known to be "degenerates" (this is highlighted by Funk's "epilepsy" earlier). Maxim realises that rebels are hiding the truth just as the government does, in hope that they might use the towers themselves, had they come to power. After fighting alongside the "degenerates" in the attack on a tower, Maxim is again captured by the military and sentenced to a prison labor camp. There, inmates are tasked with cleaning the wilderness of automated defense systems that were left abandoned by decades of war. On a mission, Maxim manages to capture a mechanized
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
. He drives the tank away from detention zone across the minefield, picks up Guy, and heads south to the neighbouring nations.


Part II

The second part is named ''Rebellion'' (russian: Схватка, Skhvatka, Skirmish). It starts with a brief description of the first part plot. Maxim reveals the true purpose of the towers to Guy, who does not believe at first but is convinced when his enthusiasm fades as they get farther from the towers. They arrive in a city ruined by atomic bombing and inhabited by
mutants In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
. Maxim tries to convince mutants to start a rebellion against the Unknown Fathers, but, being too weak, they refuse. Maxim then decides to seek help from another powerful country on Saraksh, the Islands Empire. Mutants give Maxim a bomber airship to fly for the Empire. As Guy and Maxim travel the airship, Guy is again hit by the towers' radiation. He starts hysterically screaming of his loyalty to Maxim and hugging him. To stop it, Maxim collides the airship into the Tower and destroys it. After crash-landing at the shore, Maxim and Guy discover an abandoned Imperial White Submarine. There, they find evidence that Islands Empire is even worse mass-murdering fascist regime which would not help their goals. Meanwhile, the Unknown Fathers are planning an invasion of the neighbouring country of Khonti. As soon as Maxim and Guy return to Fatherland, they are captured and sent to war along with fellow prisoners, where Guy is killed in action. Funk, following Strider's orders, finds Maxim and takes him out of the war back to the capital. Fatherland is defeated, and the State prosecutor, who was an active supporter of the war, realizes that the Unknown Fathers will execute him for failure. He contacts Maxim and reveals the location of the Tower Control Center, urging him to use it for a
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
. Maxim sneaks in, but instead of following the prosecutor's plan, he blasts the Center with explosives. As he exits the Center, he is confronted by angry Strider. He berates and beats Maxim and reveals himself as undercover spy from Earth. Maxim, a well-intentioned amateur, ruined the plan to save Fatherland and the rest of the planet that Strider has been preparing for decades. Strider tells Maxim to fly home to Earth. Maxim refuses and offers his help on one condition: another brainwashing center can never be built. After a fight and a heated argument, Strider reluctantly agrees. The final sequence shows rebels overthrowing the Unknown Fathers.


Cast

The ''Unknown Fathers'' use nicknames, most of which are terms for different family relations. * Vasiliy Stepanov as ''
Maxim Kammerer The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
'' (voiced by Maksim Matveyev) *
Yuliya Snigir Yuliya Viktorovna Snigir (russian: link=no, Юлия Викторовна Снигирь; born 2 June 1983) is a Russian actress and model. Life and career Yuliya Snigir was born in Donskoy, Tula Oblast, Russian SFSR. She graduated from high s ...
as ''Rada Gaal'' *
Pyotr Fyodorov Pyotr Petrovich Fyodorov (russian: Пётр Петрович Фёдоров, born 21 April 1982) is a Russian actor. He is known for playing the role of Guy Gaal in ''The Inhabited Island'', Gromov in '' Stalingrad'' and Yakovlev in '' The Duelist ...
as ''Guy Gaal'' * Aleksei Serebryakov as ''Strider'' aka ''
Rudolf Sikorski The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
'' *
Fyodor Bondarchuk Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk (russian: link=no, Фёдор Сергеевич Бондарчук ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, TV and film producer, clipmaker, TV host, founder of production company Art Pictures Studio. ...
as ''State prosecutor'' aka ''Umnik'' (''Smart'') *
Sergey Garmash Sergei Leonidovich Garmash (russian: Серге́й Леони́дович Гарма́ш; born 1 September 1958) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor. He is a People's Artist of Russia. In 2013 he was a member of the jury at the 35th Mosc ...
as ''Zef'' *
Gosha Kutsenko Yuriy Georgiyevich Kutsenko (russian: Ю́рий Гео́ргиевич Куце́нко; born 20 May 1967), better known as Gosha Kutsenko (russian: Гоша Куценко), is a Russian actor, producer, singer, poet, and screenwriter. In 2008, ...
as ''Veper'' *
Andrei Merzlikin Andrey Ilyich Merzlikin (russian: Андре́й Ильи́ч Мерзли́кин; born 24 March 1973) is a Russian film and theater actor. Early life Andrey Merzlikin was born in Korolyov (city), Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast. In the first educ ...
as ''Fank'' * Mikhail Yevlanov as ''Rittmeister Chachu'' *
Anna Mikhalkova Anna Nikitichna Mikhalkova (Russian: А́нна Ники́тична Михалко́ва; born 14 May 1974, in Moscow) is a Russian actress and model. Her film credits include '' Our Own'', '' Kokoko'' and ''Rasputin''. Her television credits ...
as ''Ordi Tader'' * Sergei Barkovsky as ''Nolle Renadu'' *
Aleksey Gorbunov Alexey, Alexei, Alexie, Aleksei, or Aleksey (russian: Алексе́й ; bg, Алексей ) is a Russian and Bulgarian male first name deriving from the Greek ''Aléxios'' (), meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin ...
as ''Shurin'' (''Brother-in-law (wife's brother)'') *
Maksim Sukhanov Maksim Aleksandrovich Sukhanov (Russian: Максим Александрович Суханов; born 10 November 1963) is a Soviet and Russian actor, producer, theatrical composer, and restaurateur. His film credits include '' The Goddess'', '' ...
as ''Dad'' (''russian: Папа, Papa'') *
Yuriy Tsurilo Yury, Yuri, Youri, Yurii, Yuriy, Yurij, Iurii or Iouri is the Slavic (russian: Юрий, Yuriy, or uk, Юрій, Yuriy, or bg, Юрий, Jurij, or be, Юры, Jury) form of the masculine given name George; it is derived directly from the Gree ...
as the ''general'' *
Aleksandr Feklistov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Feklistov (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Фекли́стов; born December 7, 1955) is a Russian actor. He appeared in more than sixty films since 1984 (the film ''Troop''). Since 2007 – ...
as ''Dever'' (''Brother in law (husband's brother)'') *
Kirill Pirogov Kirill Alfredovich Pirogov (russian: Кирилл Альфредович Пирогов; born 4 September 1973) is a Russian film and theatre actor and composer. He has appeared in more than twenty films since 1995. In 2005 he was made an Honour ...
as ''Svyokor'' (''Father in law (husband's father)'') * Yevgeni Sidikhin as ''Teste'' (''Father in law (wife's father)'') * Sergei Mazayev as ''Voldyr'' * Leonid Gromov as ''Gramenau'' * Vasili Savinov as ''Lesnik'' * Vyacheslav Razbegaev as ''Krysolov'' * Dimash Akhimov as ''Behemoth'' * Ignat Akrachkov as ''prosecutor's referent'' * Anton Eskin as ''Oreshnik''


Production

The film is a production of Art Pictures Studio, Non-Stop Production and
STS STS, or sts, may refer to: Medicine * Secondary traumatic stress, a condition which leads to a diminished ability to empathize * Sequence-tagged site, a gene-reference in genomics * Soft-tissue sarcoma * Staurosporine, an antibiotic * STS (gen ...
channel, with special effects by EyeScream Studio,
Main Road Post Main Road Post is a Russian visual effects studio headquartered in Moscow, Russia. As of 2022 the studio has gained international reputation (which continued despite 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine). The studio has worked on the visual effects for ...
and Quantum Creation FX. The production was filmed in
Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
, Ukraine, with photography lasting for 10 months (14 February – 7 December 2007). The film had a total budget of about $36.6 million, including $10 million for the film's promotion and $1 million of state donations.


Reception

''Dark Planet'' was met with mixed reviews. According to Russian review aggregator Kritikanstvo.ru, both parts hold an approximate approval rating around 6 of 10, based on 20 reviews. Many critics praised the film for being surprisingly faithful to the novel. Some praised the film's visual effects and action, while others criticized the work of the director and editor. A ''
Mir Fantastiki ''Mir Fantastiki'' (russian: Мир фантастики), officially abbreviated as ''MirF'', is a Russian monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine. The name also refers to the website run by the magazine, Mirf.ru. ''Mir Fantastiki'' litera ...
'' review called the film a "chaotic mash of visual, dramatical and musical components, each of which separately has quite high quality". "As a result, the film is scattered throughout a sequence of "beautiful pictures" that do not shape an integrated view of the world", agrees ''Total DVD''. Vasiliy Stepanov's acting as Maxim was met with criticism, but some of the supporting actors, such as Serebryakov and Garmash, were praised. The film was a relative commercial failure. Despite grossing around $30 million from two parts summarily and ranking among the top-grossing films of Russia's modern cinema, it did not repay its budget of $36 million. The movie was released for
home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
very shortly after it exited theatres. According to Bondarchuk, this helped the film to become profitable eventually.
Boris Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 A ...
, the only one of the book's co-authors who lived to see the film, said the film is a "directors' success", noting its faithfulness to the novel. He praised the work of Serebryakov (Strider), Bondarchuk (Prosecutor General) and Garmash (Zef), but expressed disappointment over the work of Kutsenko (Vepr'), Mikhalkova (Ordi Tader) and Merzlikin (Funk). He noted Stepanov as one of the biggest successes of the film, saying that "Maxim Kammerer is exactly as we imagined him".


Release

Due to the length of the story, the film was split in two parts: the first premiered on 18 December 2008 and the second on 23 April 2009. Bulldog Film Distribution released the film in February 2015, on 9 February as video on demand and on 16 February 2015 on DVD in the UK.


References


External links

* (archived link)
Secondary official website
* * *
Fyodor Bondarchuk Directing New Film – The Inhabited Island
Charles Ganske {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Planet 2008 films 2009 films 2008 science fiction action films 2009 science fiction action films 2000s dystopian films Fiction about mind control Films based on Russian novels Films based on science fiction novels Films based on works by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Films scored by Yuri Poteyenko Films directed by Fedor Bondarchuk Films released in separate parts Fiction set in the 2150s Films set in the 22nd century Films set on fictional planets Russian post-apocalyptic films Russian dystopian films Russian science fiction action films Space adventure films Films produced by Fyodor Bondarchuk