The Inhabited Island
Encyclopedia
The Inhabited Island is a 2008-2009 science fiction film
directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk
based on a 1971 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
of the same Russian name, published in English as Prisoners of Power
. Due to the length of the filmed material, the film was released in two installments. The first movie was released in Russia
on December 18, 2008 and the conclusion released on April 23, 2009.
(Stepanov), is a space pilot of the Free Search Group. His spaceship is damaged and he crash lands
on an unknown planet. The ship is destroyed just after Maxim crawls out of it. Maxim is discovered and arrested by Zef (Garmash), a native of the planet. Guy Gaal (Fyodorov), a Corporal of the Guards, is appointed to escort him to the military camp.
As they are making their way to the capital by rail, their military convoy is attacked by so-called "degenerates". The degenerates destroy a nearby tower, which is said to be part of a ballistic missile defense. Maxim demonstrates great physical prowess during the attack and saves Guy from imminent death. Maxim learns that the name of the planet is Saraksh
, and the country where he landed is governed by a militaristic dictatorship
of the Unknown Fathers.
Maxim is in the process of being escorted to Strannik (Wanderer in Russian), a powerful figure in the government; but one of Strannik's men, Fank, suffers from a surge of epilepsy, Maxim is able to escape. He encounters Rada Gaal (Snigir), a sister of Guy, and falls in love with her. Maxim stays in the city with Guy and Rada and gets conscripted into the Guards. He learns about the onngoing war and tries to determine who exactly the enemy is and what they are fighting for. After Maxim refuses to execute a group of captured degenerates, he is shot by his superior and left to die.
Nevertheless, Maxim recovers and joins a group of degenerate fighters. During his time with the degenerates, Maxim learns the true nature of the towers erected across the country. Contrary to the state propaganda, the towers actually function as mind control
devices, sending a special kind of radiation that ensures the citizens' loyalty to the state. Two times a day, the majority of the country's population experiences a patriotic frenzy but the remainder suffers from intense pain and convulsions. It seems like the degenerates, as well as the Unknown Fathers, are the minority which do not submit to the towers' radiation, though they suffer from excruciating pain at the time of radiation spikes.
The degenerates do not actually seek to dismantle the system of towers, but plan to overthrow the Unknown Fathers and use the mind control system for their own designs. Both the degenerates and the Fathers seek to recruit Maxim, since he is immune both to mind control and pain, but he decides that neither the degenerates nor the Fathers deserve his allegiance.
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 tasked with cleaning minefields. When on mission, Maxim and two other prisoners, Zef and Veper, find an abandoned power transmission station in the woods. While exploring the underground floor, they encounter the golovans, a race of seemingly wild dog-like creatures who attack the prisoners. Maxim speculates that they may be sentient and highly intelligent.
As they exit the station, Maxim manages to capture a mechanized tank which attacked the prisoners in the woods. He drives the tank to the border where he again encounters Guy who is serving at a border post. Maxim takes Guy with him and heads south to the neighbouring nations.
Maxim tries to reveal the true purpose of the towers to Guy, who does not believe at first but is convinced when his enthusiasm fades considerably as they get farther from the coverage area of the towers.
They arrive in the once-prosperous part of the empire, now turned a God-forsaken desert in an aftermath of an atomic war. They meet the mutant people who are suffering from the effects of radiation poisoning
and are pursued by both the border guards and the barbarians from the south. Maxim tries to convince mutants to start a rebellion or join the barbarians to fight with the so-called Fatherland, but they are too weak both physically and morally.
They advise him to ask help from The Wizard, a mutant kid with paranormal abilities. Maxim laments if it is at all possible to overtake the regime of the Fathers, but finally decides to join the Islands Empire to fight the Unknown Fathers. A leader of the mutants, who is a former Colonel of the medical service, convinces Maxim that a desert passage would be too dangerous and presents him with a flying bomber-airship that survived the war.
As Guy and Maxim fly the airship, Guy falls victim to the tower radiation that reaches them and shows his fanatical allegiance, this time to Maxim personally. Maxim collides the airship into the Tower and destroys it, but the airship is shot down by automatic anti-aircraft guns.
After crash-landing in the sea, Maxim and Guy successfully reach ground and find an abandoned Imperial White Submarine. They find evidence of mass killings in the Islands Empire and it is now crystal clear that joining the Islands Empire is impossible.
Meanwhile, the State Prosecutor makes plans to find Maxim and use his outstanding abilities for his profit. He talks with Rada but after she declines his request to cooperate, puts her in jail. Strannik helps Rada escape the Prosecutor since he also wants to find Maxim.
Maxim learns that the Fatherland declared war on Khonti, former part of the united Empire, and he and Guy surrender to a land patrol. They and most of the male prisoners are sent to the front, including his friends Zef and Veper. During the battle Guy perishes. Fank finds Maxim and convinces him to join Strannik's quarters.
Fatherland is quickly defeated, and the State Prosecutor, who was an active supporter of the war, realizes that the Unknown Fathers will assassinate him for this failure. He contacts Maxim and reveals the location of the Tower Control Center, wanting him to destroy it. Maxim concurs with his reasoning and destroys the Center with the help of Resistance leaders Zef and Veper, then saves Rada from Strannik.
Strannik realizes what has happened but only when it is too late. He chases Maxim and during their final confrontation it is revealed that Strannik's real name is Rudolf Sikorski and he is from Earth as well. Sikorski works in the Galactic Security Bureau and he was the President of Earth for some time. Sikorski blames Maxim with spoiling a thoroughly prepared plan to save this planet. He reminds Maxim about movable radiators which are functionally equivalent to the Towers, the imminent starvation, the raising inflation, the need for economic recovery and for decontamination of radioactive lands.
Strannik also reveals that the Islands Empire plans an invasion to the Fatherland, which would be very hard to counteract without the so-called black radiation of the Towers, which causes depression. He suggests Maxim to return home to Earth.
Maxim responds that this planet is his home and his primary objective is to not allow anybody to rebuild the zombie towers, but he is ready to cooperate with Sikorski on other matters. Sikorski agrees to this, and Maxim stays on the planet with Rada.
, with special effects by EyeScream Studio, Main Road Post and Quantum Creation FX.
The production was filmed in Crimea
, Ukraine
, with photography lasting for 10 months (February 14 – December 7, 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.It the biggest budget Russian film ever made in the Russian Federation weighing in at $36.6 million and beating fellow Russian Blockbuster The Admiral
which weighed in at $20 million.
review called the film a "chaotic mash of visual, dramatical and musical components, each of which separately has quite high quality". "The movie scatters into a mosaic of spectacular images, that don't comprise the consistent image of the world", agrees Total DVD
The film was a relative commercial failure. Despite grossing around $30 mln from two parts summarily and ranking among the top-grossing films of Russia's modern cinema, it didn't repay its budget of $36 mln. The movie was released on DVD very shortly after it exited theatres, in the hope of covering the debt.
Boris Strugatsky, the only living of the book's co-authors, said the film is a "directors' success", noting its faithfulness to the novel. He praised the work of Serebryakov (Strannik), Bondarchuk (Umnik) 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 success of the film, saying that "Maxim Kammerer is exactly as we imagined him".
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk
Fyodor Bondarchuk
Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk is a Russian film director and actor. He is the director of the acclaimed film The 9th Company, and producer of the 2006 film Heat, where he starred as himself with his mother Irina Skobtseva....
based on a 1971 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
The brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are Soviet Jewish-Russian science fiction authors who collaborated on their fiction.-Life and work:...
of the same Russian name, published in English as Prisoners of Power
Prisoners of Power
Prisoners of Power also known as Inhabited Island is a science fiction novel written by Soviet authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was written in 1969 and originally published in 1971, the English translation was released in 1977...
. Due to the length of the filmed material, the film was released in two installments. The first movie was released in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
on December 18, 2008 and the conclusion released on April 23, 2009.
Part I
In the year 2157, the main character, Maxim KammererMaxim Kammerer
Maxim Kammerer is a fictional character in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's series of science fiction novels set in the Noon Universe....
(Stepanov), is a space pilot of the Free Search Group. His spaceship is damaged and he crash lands
Crash Landing
"Crash Landing" is the only single by Route 1. The single features ex-Atomic Kitten member, Jenny Frost. "Crash Landing" is commonly, yet mistakenly, referred to as a single by Jenny Frost featuring Route 1 because the CD cover features only her with her name in a larger font.-Charts:...
on an unknown planet. The ship is destroyed just after Maxim crawls out of it. Maxim is discovered and arrested by Zef (Garmash), a native of the planet. Guy Gaal (Fyodorov), a Corporal of the Guards, is appointed to escort him to the military camp.
As they are making their way to the capital by rail, their military convoy is attacked by so-called "degenerates". The degenerates destroy a nearby tower, which is said to be part of a ballistic missile defense. Maxim demonstrates great physical prowess during the attack and saves Guy from imminent death. Maxim learns that the name of the planet is Saraksh
Saraksh
Saraksh is a fictional planet described in Prisoners of Power by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so called Noon Universe and presents a world that survived an atomic war. As a result, the surface of the planet is mostly covered with debris and junk...
, and the country where he landed is governed by a militaristic dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
of the Unknown Fathers.
Maxim is in the process of being escorted to Strannik (Wanderer in Russian), a powerful figure in the government; but one of Strannik's men, Fank, suffers from a surge of epilepsy, Maxim is able to escape. He encounters Rada Gaal (Snigir), a sister of Guy, and falls in love with her. Maxim stays in the city with Guy and Rada and gets conscripted into the Guards. He learns about the onngoing war and tries to determine who exactly the enemy is and what they are fighting for. After Maxim refuses to execute a group of captured degenerates, he is shot by his superior and left to die.
Nevertheless, Maxim recovers and joins a group of degenerate fighters. During his time with the degenerates, Maxim learns the true nature of the towers erected across the country. Contrary to the state propaganda, the towers actually function as mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
devices, sending a special kind of radiation that ensures the citizens' loyalty to the state. Two times a day, the majority of the country's population experiences a patriotic frenzy but the remainder suffers from intense pain and convulsions. It seems like the degenerates, as well as the Unknown Fathers, are the minority which do not submit to the towers' radiation, though they suffer from excruciating pain at the time of radiation spikes.
The degenerates do not actually seek to dismantle the system of towers, but plan to overthrow the Unknown Fathers and use the mind control system for their own designs. Both the degenerates and the Fathers seek to recruit Maxim, since he is immune both to mind control and pain, but he decides that neither the degenerates nor the Fathers deserve his allegiance.
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 tasked with cleaning minefields. When on mission, Maxim and two other prisoners, Zef and Veper, find an abandoned power transmission station in the woods. While exploring the underground floor, they encounter the golovans, a race of seemingly wild dog-like creatures who attack the prisoners. Maxim speculates that they may be sentient and highly intelligent.
As they exit the station, Maxim manages to capture a mechanized tank which attacked the prisoners in the woods. He drives the tank to the border where he again encounters Guy who is serving at a border post. Maxim takes Guy with him and heads south to the neighbouring nations.
Part II
The second part is named Skhvatka (Skirmish); it starts with a brief description of the first part plot.Maxim tries to reveal the true purpose of the towers to Guy, who does not believe at first but is convinced when his enthusiasm fades considerably as they get farther from the coverage area of the towers.
They arrive in the once-prosperous part of the empire, now turned a God-forsaken desert in an aftermath of an atomic war. They meet the mutant people who are suffering from the effects of radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
and are pursued by both the border guards and the barbarians from the south. Maxim tries to convince mutants to start a rebellion or join the barbarians to fight with the so-called Fatherland, but they are too weak both physically and morally.
They advise him to ask help from The Wizard, a mutant kid with paranormal abilities. Maxim laments if it is at all possible to overtake the regime of the Fathers, but finally decides to join the Islands Empire to fight the Unknown Fathers. A leader of the mutants, who is a former Colonel of the medical service, convinces Maxim that a desert passage would be too dangerous and presents him with a flying bomber-airship that survived the war.
As Guy and Maxim fly the airship, Guy falls victim to the tower radiation that reaches them and shows his fanatical allegiance, this time to Maxim personally. Maxim collides the airship into the Tower and destroys it, but the airship is shot down by automatic anti-aircraft guns.
After crash-landing in the sea, Maxim and Guy successfully reach ground and find an abandoned Imperial White Submarine. They find evidence of mass killings in the Islands Empire and it is now crystal clear that joining the Islands Empire is impossible.
Meanwhile, the State Prosecutor makes plans to find Maxim and use his outstanding abilities for his profit. He talks with Rada but after she declines his request to cooperate, puts her in jail. Strannik helps Rada escape the Prosecutor since he also wants to find Maxim.
Maxim learns that the Fatherland declared war on Khonti, former part of the united Empire, and he and Guy surrender to a land patrol. They and most of the male prisoners are sent to the front, including his friends Zef and Veper. During the battle Guy perishes. Fank finds Maxim and convinces him to join Strannik's quarters.
Fatherland is quickly defeated, and the State Prosecutor, who was an active supporter of the war, realizes that the Unknown Fathers will assassinate him for this failure. He contacts Maxim and reveals the location of the Tower Control Center, wanting him to destroy it. Maxim concurs with his reasoning and destroys the Center with the help of Resistance leaders Zef and Veper, then saves Rada from Strannik.
Strannik realizes what has happened but only when it is too late. He chases Maxim and during their final confrontation it is revealed that Strannik's real name is Rudolf Sikorski and he is from Earth as well. Sikorski works in the Galactic Security Bureau and he was the President of Earth for some time. Sikorski blames Maxim with spoiling a thoroughly prepared plan to save this planet. He reminds Maxim about movable radiators which are functionally equivalent to the Towers, the imminent starvation, the raising inflation, the need for economic recovery and for decontamination of radioactive lands.
Strannik also reveals that the Islands Empire plans an invasion to the Fatherland, which would be very hard to counteract without the so-called black radiation of the Towers, which causes depression. He suggests Maxim to return home to Earth.
Maxim responds that this planet is his home and his primary objective is to not allow anybody to rebuild the zombie towers, but he is ready to cooperate with Sikorski on other matters. Sikorski agrees to this, and Maxim stays on the planet with Rada.
Cast
- Vasiliy Stepanov as Maxim KammererMaxim KammererMaxim Kammerer is a fictional character in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's series of science fiction novels set in the Noon Universe....
(voiced by Maksim Matveev) - Yuliya SnigirYuliya SnigirYuliya Victorovna Snigir — Russian actress and model.Most importantly featured as Rada Gaal in The Inhabited Island.-Biography:Julia Snigir born 2 June 1983 in Donskoy, Tula region....
as Rada Gaal - Pyotr Fyodorov as Guy Gaal
- Aleksei SerebryakovAleksei Serebryakov (actor)-Selected filmography:-External links:...
as Strider - Fyodor BondarchukFyodor BondarchukFyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk is a Russian film director and actor. He is the director of the acclaimed film The 9th Company, and producer of the 2006 film Heat, where he starred as himself with his mother Irina Skobtseva....
as State Prosecutor aka Smart - Sergey Garmash as Zef
- Gosha KutsenkoGosha KutsenkoYuriy Georgiyevich Kutsenko , better known as Gosha Kutsenko is a Russian actor, producer, singer, poet, and screenwriter. In 2008 he joined the United Russia party. Kutsenko has appeared in high profile films such as Mama Don't Cry, Antikiller, Night Watch, and Echelon...
as Veper - Andrei MerzlikinAndrei MerzlikinAndrey Ilyich Merzlikin is a Russian film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born in 1973 in Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast, and graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow.-Filmography:-External links:...
as Fank - Mikhail Yevlanov as Rittmeister Chachu
- Anna Mikhalkova as Ordi Tader
- Sergei Barkovsky as Nolle Renadu
- Aleksey Gorbunov as Shurin
- Maksim Sukhanov as Dad
- Yuriy Tsurilo as the General
- Aleksandr Feklistov as Dever
- Kirill Pirogov as Svyokor
- Yevgeni SidikhinYevgeni Sidikhin- Biography :Yevgeni Sidikhin was born in Leningrad , Russia, in 1964. He studied martial arts and boxing since the 4th grade and was a five-time champion in the City of Leningrad. After high school he was accepted into the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music, and Cinematography . ...
as Teste - Sergei Mazayev as Voldyr
- Leonid Gromov as Gramenau
- Vasili Savinov as Lesnik
- Vyacheslav Razbegayev as Krysolov
- Dimash Akhimov as Behemoth
- Ignat Akrachkov as Prosecutor's referent
Production
The film is a production of Art Pictures Studio, Non-Stop Productions and Russian STS ChannelSTS (Russia)
CTC is a commercial television station based in Moscow, Russia. It belongs to the CTC Media, a Delaware-registered, Moscow-based NASDAQ-traded company with a market capitalization exceeding US$4 billion...
, with special effects by EyeScream Studio, Main Road Post and Quantum Creation FX.
The production was filmed in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, with photography lasting for 10 months (February 14 – December 7, 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.It the biggest budget Russian film ever made in the Russian Federation weighing in at $36.6 million and beating fellow Russian Blockbuster The Admiral
Admiral (film)
Admiral is a 2008 biopic about Alexander Kolchak, a Vice-Admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy and leader of the anti-communist White Movement during the Russian Civil War...
which weighed in at $20 million.
Reception
The Inhabited Island was met with mixed reviews. Most praised the film for being surprisingly faithful to the novel. Some praised the film's visual effects, while others criticized the work of director and editor. Mir FantastikiMir Fantastiki
Mir Fantastiki is a science fiction and fantasy monthly magazine published in Russia since September 2003 and distributed in major ex-USSR countries via trade net and postal subscription....
review called the film a "chaotic mash of visual, dramatical and musical components, each of which separately has quite high quality". "The movie scatters into a mosaic of spectacular images, that don't comprise the consistent image of the world", agrees Total DVD
The film was a relative commercial failure. Despite grossing around $30 mln from two parts summarily and ranking among the top-grossing films of Russia's modern cinema, it didn't repay its budget of $36 mln. The movie was released on DVD very shortly after it exited theatres, in the hope of covering the debt.
Boris Strugatsky, the only living of the book's co-authors, said the film is a "directors' success", noting its faithfulness to the novel. He praised the work of Serebryakov (Strannik), Bondarchuk (Umnik) 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 success of the film, saying that "Maxim Kammerer is exactly as we imagined him".