Hard to Be a God (1990)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"Hard to Be a God" is a live action movie from 1989, so this one is already over 25 years old. It was a co-production of 4 countries and one of them being West Germany turned this one into a German-language film, even if dubbed versions exist of course. The director is Peter Fleischmann and he is also one of the writers from this film, possibly his most known career achievement more than a quarter century later. Fleischmann will turn 80 next year. Basically you could say that this film is all about Edward Zentara as he plays the character who has easily the most screen-time. Also for this late Polish actor, it is probably his most known work and occasionally he looks like a Kinski with long grey hair. Christine Kaufmann plays one of the female protagonists and the reason why I gut curious about this film is Werner Herzog who also appears as an actor in here. Sadly, he has very little screen time only and his character is much more talked about than actually seen.This is a science fiction film and I may be a bit biased as this is probably not my favorite genre, but I still did not end up enjoying the watch. It is futuristic, but yet also has a very medieval touch to it, which is not too common for this genre. The sets and costumes were fine and so were the main character's looks which made the film occasionally interesting, but I still felt that this was mostly style over substance. The story never had me even close to the edge of my seat. And what is even more serious is that the film is longer than two hours, so if you will be bored as much as I was, then you will be bored for a very long time. The dialogues also felt pretty pretentious with how the characters were talking. These 105 minutes I would really only recommend to the biggest SciFi fans who have seen (almost) everything else that this genre has to offer. Yes this one here is a bit of a different film, but different does not necessarily equal good and here is the evidence. Thumbs down. Not recommended.

Recently, Aleski German's adaptation of Hard to be a God, a science fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, hit DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Video. Meanwhile, the first adaptation of the novel has remained obscure and hard to see.For those unfamiliar with the novel or its adaptations, the story concerns a planet similar to Earth that is undergoing its own version of the middle-ages. A group of scientists from Earth are studying the planet. To do so, they are living among the people as if they were natives. The scientists are to remain objective, interacting enough with the King and his court to keep up appearances but not enough to upset the time period. When Don Reba, a rising lord, tries to seize power with the help of the church, one scientist finds it hard to remain objective.The novel's two film adaptations take very different routes. Aleski German's 2013 adaptation is an art film very concerned with its ambiance. It places the viewer in an unknown world and forces him to decipher it, much like a scientist. This results in a unique, visually striking film but also an often inaccessible motion picture. On the other hand, director Peter Fleischmann's 1989 adaptation is a far more viewer friendly film. It sets up its story and characters in a traditional and easy to follow way. The viewer does not need to be familiar with the source novel to understand the film (something not always true of the Aleski German adaptation). The downside of this approach is that Fleischmann's film seems merely ordinary, unremarkable.Fleischmann's adaptation follows the Strugatsky novel fairly closely. I don't remember the peasant revolt taking up so much space, and it certainly didn't play into the climax. I was disappointed by this ending because the scientist Rumata never loses himself in the violence the way he does in the novel. An optimism shines through the ending of Fleischmann's Hard to be a God that is absent from both the Strugatsky and Aleski German versions.Another point of contention is that while the Aleski German adaptation seems timeless, Fleischmann's film shows its era. The desert look and stone walled castles remind one of other fantasy films from that decade (Krull; Hundra). The hero in his white wig calls to mind Connor MacLeod in the Scottish scenes from the first Highlander movie. Finally, the 1989 film has an ill-advised ending theme song (in English) whose chorus bears a passing resemblance to Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is." Nonetheless, the Peter Fleischmann film is a fair adaptation of the source novel. Fans of the book should be modestly satisfied. Finally,it should be noted that film director Werner Herzog appears at the beginning of the film playing an imprisoned scientist.

Although I agree with the impression of the previous commentator, I have several complaints. 1990 is not "a few years after the cold war" and in 1990 it was not "new Russia". This is exactly what makes this film great. It would have been only possible to make such a "gem" of a film during the existence of USSR. Especially, since this is an adaptation of Soviet Union's "domestic" science fiction writers, the Strugatsky brothers. I am just discovering the great works of Russian and Soviet science fiction (incidentally at the same time as the "American" Isaac Asimov). Years after I have enjoyed "Star Trek: The next Generation" TV-series. Although "Star Trek:TNG" raises similar questions through "The Prime Directive", "Trudno Byt' Bogom" is a full-length film and allows a deeper analysis of the question. But the book is certainly deeper.

A great European movie, nothing like the Hollywood stereotypes. A few years after the cold war made by people from France and west-Germany and the new Russia. So it has some kind of "pilot character" and is charming. The very famous Strugatzky brothers, well known for their inspiration for "Stalker" by A. Tarkovsky, wrote the book to this movie. (Of course the book is even better). Post-modern people, with possibilities like God confronted with the dark-ages and the moral fight, better than ever seen in Star Trek, that's the stuff the film made with. Just look it and enjoy it, it's far away from main stream. Warning: in the uncut version is more blood and violence than usual for an European movie and even more than a "Schwarzenegger-stealed" watcher would expect.