Film Details

Move over Space Odyssey, Solaris, Stalker, and Hard To Be a God. Make way for this Polish sci-fi epic that the late Andrzej Zulawski called his “murdered” masterwork. Begun in the 1970s as the biggest Polish film production up to that time, then halted by the Ministry of Culture because of its alleged subversiveness, the movie was finished (in a fashion) by the director in 1988, after the fall of Communism. The film is set on a distant planet that is colonized by Earth astronauts. Generations of their children forge a new civilization there, but revert to barbarism, warfare, and paganism while waiting for a messiah. “[An] ecstatic, image-drunk science-fiction fantasy…Among the most visually extravagant films ever made.” –The New Yorker. “Zulawski’s masterpiece.” –J. Hoberman. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 166 min.