Hard To Be A God (2013)
AKA: Trudno Byt Bogom
Directed by: Aleksey German
Starring: Leonid Yarmolnik (Don Rumata)
Country: Russia; Effed Up European Cinema
Language: Russian (Eng Subs); Effed Up Russian/Soviet Films
Runtime: 02:57:10
Genres: Bizarre, Gruesome, Sci-Fi, Scat, Torture, Dead Animals
Plot – Spoilers:
There’s a planet somewhere called Arkanar that’s around 800 years behind earth, and the culture there resembles Medieval Europe without any prospect of enlightenment. Scientists from Earth were sent to Arkanar to study the emergence of the planet’s history, but with the explicit rule that they must not intervene in a way that would change any organic progress. Arkanar is a filthy world with people who hate intellectuals and any such mutants are promptly persecuted. At every given opportunity, the folk there apply shit on themselves almost as if to mark themselves as being far removed from the intellectual. Plucking out of eyeballs is also a common occurence.
One of the Earth scientists, Rumata, has been on Arkanar far too long. 20 years now. Rumata loathes the people there, but also exercises restraint to not physically rip them apart – which his expressions often suggest are his actual inner thoughts. He has a thing for music and most of his ramblings are tolerated by the indigenous powers who believe he’s the son of a local God.
Though Hard to Be a God is perhaps an extreme portrayal of the filth of a culture wallowing in its medievalness, it might also pour some cold water on any fantasies you might have of traveling back in time to Medieval Europe, unless filth is a pet kink. Rumata enjoys no privacy to savor solitude. Everyone is either bumping into him or touching him physically or with their idiocy.
Somewhere in this, there’s a plot about Rumata trying to find and save a scientist who’s been taken away by a local leader, his lover getting killed and the vengeance that follows. The imagery and design is stunning at times and grotesquely attractive, often aided by the use of the corpses of dead animals. But for the most part, Hard to Be a God is a jumble of thoughts and situations. A lot of the dialogue barely makes any continuous sense. This is purely for fans of bizarre atmospheric cinema who are intrigued by mood rather than coherence. And even for them, at almost 3 hours, it can be a sort of endurance test to watch in one sitting.
I need a shower after watching this.
i watched his other movie, so many times, i even bought it on dvd special edition – arrow academy edition – Khrustalyov, my car! its easier to watch that one, and it wasnt filmed in 15 years like this one, which im trying to watch for years now, and i keep stumping after 15 minutes, dont know why.
I’ve been looking for this for ages! Thank you so so much for this.
I haven’t yet watched it, but the name of the planet — Arkanar — and the synopsis –800 years behind the modernity — sound too much like Arkansas (my home state) to be coincidences. An American filmmaker could have just made this a documentary. But the subtitles into English would have been equally necessary. I don’t know how familiar present-day Russia is with Arkansas, but from the 1960s to 1980s, the USSR had a dossier on Arkansas that was far thicker than the ones they compiled about most other states (and the Kremlin was probably more aware about Arkansas’ existence than even our own federal government was: the state’s Titan II missile program gave the USSR sufficient reason for knowing about Arkansas, and until the state nearly blew itself off the map for the first time (the 1965 incident), there were plans to expand the Titan II program to an extent that Arkanar would have had nearly twice the number of Titan II missiles than the other two Titan states, Arizona and Kansas. The US government had the brilliant idea of hiring civilian contractors to maintain Titan II missile silos; after all, when free military labour is available and the KGB is watching, it only makes good sense to hire people from the private sector. The 1965 incident, which killed 53 contracted maintenance employees, was determined to be caused by a dope-smoking welder who was listening to the 13th Floor Elevators on 4-track tape (an earlier, smaller, and better-quality precursor… Read more »
This movie is dope. Definitely wanna watch it on acid sometime.
A bunch of really smart fellers ….i mean fart smellers
Very shit
is this then when god got an erection
If you kinda like this but it’s too much, try Marketa Lazarová.
TL DR.
“We will defend Christianity, and not just on paper, We will burn out the atheism in our culture. We will burn out this whole poison. ”
– Adolf Hitler