In the future of 1997, Billy Hayes (Richy Muller) returns to Earth from the weather control and research station Florida Arklab, a joint European and American project, where he details the events involving fellow astronaut Max Marek (Franz Buchrieser) and the two's uncovering of insidious plans involving the station.
The Noah's Ark Principle was the first film to be produced and directed by Roland Emmerich who'd later achieve greater success in America outside his homeland of West Germany. Emmerich was inspired to make an effects heavy science-fiction film following his graduation from the German Film and Television Academy due to the continued success of Star Wars and other effects heavy American blockbusters which Emmerich studied as part of his degree requirement. Securing funding from noted producer Bernd Eichinger, Solaris-Film, and the Academy itself, Emmerich produced the film for around 1 million Deutsche Marks using an old factory as a studio and completing the special effects at Bavaria Studios in Munich. Upon release the film received some praise for its impressive effects work for such a low budget production, but was only a modest success due to only modest distribution as the film never saw release in the United States due in no small part to its portrayal of the United States. As this is effectively a student film it's important to view it in perspective, and as a showcase of Emmerich's handling of effects heavy work you can definitely see it here.
On a technical level The Noah's Ark Principle does a nice job of establishing its central Florida Arklab space station which is impressively designed and realized especially in comparison to certain other effects heavy works from around the same time. The movie is considerably more slow paced in comparison to many effects heavy films from around the same time and is more of a chamber drama for most of its runtime than a proper thriller or sci-fi film with most of the shady stuff involving shadowy political forces being pretty apparent from the getgo. While Emmerich hasn't quite cemented his style here, you can see shades of the Emmerich we'd come to know from the shadowy government conspiracy (which no joke, is revealed through a program file that has the acronym "INVASION"), the quirky scientist outsider protagonist (though not as over the top as his 90s takes on it), or the estranged couple drama that would be part and parcel to many of his disaster films. While I can't say the movie kept me hooked, I can say it did showcase an impressive amount of polish and potential for Emmerich's handling of this level of effects heavy work.
The Noah's Ark Principle is best viewed as more of a technical proof of concept rather than a full movie in and of its own right and for a first time film from a Germanic filmmaker that didn't have major studio resources at his beck-and-call, Emmerich does showcase a solid display of talent. It's a shame the film isn't more readily available because it probably deserves a higher end transfer if only for the technical craft involved even if it's more a historical curiosity than anything that demands a viewing.
