siderite

Hard to imagine that Eastern Europe was making sci-fi in 1963. And not slop, but well thought loose adaptions of books that are now considered classics. This film is one of those European science fiction stories where ideas, knowledge and exploration are more important than emotion and action. In just 80 minutes the story goes through an interstellar ship launch, social and psychological issues during the long voyage, a strange "dark star" that affects people as well as finding a derelict spacecraft that turns out to be human, from the violent and uncouth 20th century, grief, psychosis and discovering life on another planet.

If done today, this would have cost millions of dollars and probably have been a pilot for a streaming series. But even then, the American market realized the film's value and decided to butcher it. After heavy edits that actually removed material, an English dub that changed the title and all of the names of the international crew to American names, they changed the ending to something non-sensical. Warning from the past, I tell you!

Thing is, in a sense, nothing happens in this film. In another, everything happens! In the end you're not excited, but your mind is racing with how things went and why and what does it mean. Instead of providing easy answers, the movie gives you deeper questions.

That doesn't mean it's perfect in any way. The cutting of scenes is indeed ingenious, but also feels alien. The social cohesion of the group, the ideas on how the future would look, the deeper reasons for which people choose to act are far removed from the modern mindset. But in that sense, it's so worth watching the thing, as it provides you with a really fresh perspective.

I don't know if I liked this or not. I absolutely loved parts, felt touched by others and hated some of it. This is an adaption of a British book about rabbits, but being the 60s, even if meant for children, it features political and religious themes, violence, death, intrigue and is influenced by Campbell's and Jung's ideas of the hero's journey. I found it fascinating that this film exists. Imagine now trying to sell something like that to studios. The world was a terrifying and wonderful place 50 years ago. It is more and more important to be exposed to the different eras of the human cinematic culture, lest we start believing that the way it is now is what has to be and that everything else cannot be imagined.

Anyway, I think that you can't fully understand the film without having read the book - which I haven't - so this is my biggest peeve with it. But the rest was quite amazing: a fully built world of rabbits with their own language, culture, society, enforcement and religion. Then there was the weird animation, every frame manually drawn, the weird British narration/acting which was quite unusual.

You leave the film with the impression you've seen something fresh and magical, but also that you probably missed something. I looked it up, it's not a Biblical allegory, nor a ripoff of the Odyssey, it's just a story told by a former military man to his daughters while driving, inspired by some of the things he's seen in the war.

Bottom line: perhaps not the most entertaining or well crafted film in the world, but something that has to be experienced.

I can't say that people didn't do a good job with this film, it was just completely impossible to enjoy or derive any kind of moral out of it other than the world is crap, people are dumb in the best of cases and completely crazy otherwise.

Yes, it's nauseating and unsettling, but that wasn't the part I didn't enjoy, it was the futility of it. It's probably just not my thing.

P. S. Oh, wait, there was a supernatural horror element in this, after the absolutely horrifying child support situation!