Operation Ganymed

I always looked at this as a sort of Vietnam parable. The astronauts (before they return to Earth) have nothing but high hopes and delusions of grandeur. They dream of a warm reception and massive parades for the conquering heroes.

However, nothing is further from the truth, as the Astronauts return to a world where they are not only forgotten, but unwelcome.

The bleak atmosphere of this movie is truly astonishing. I love the scenes where the astronauts wander around in the desert while the main character Don has frequent flashbacks to spacecamp and an extended sequence on the surface of Ganymede where two of his fellow explorers die tragic deaths.

While the cinematography and editing are pretty crude, there are some pretty good ideas and tricks used by this extremely low budget movie. Although the acting does get over the top at times, it's never too silly to keep from enjoying the seriousness of the movie, which in the end is more of a thinker than a downer. I love the ending in that it raises some really good questions while the movie could have ended at any point earlier on.

Watch as a curiosity item, at least to see Jurgen Prochnow in a very pre-Das Boot supporting role.

I've read about the atrocious English language dub, but my copy of the film is the Dutch rental video with the original German dialogue and it sounds fine. The film itself is gritty and realistic in tone. Five astronauts return from years in space only to find a seemingly desolate Earth. No radio signals, deserted ruins, sparse vegetation etc. At loss at what to do next they decide to head North, but without sufficient food and water supplies, how long will they last? The line between reality, hallucinations due to dehydration (and possible radioactive sickness) and flashbacks to their exploration of Jupiter moon Ganymedes is constantly blurred. Recommended.

The storyline is 3 ships travel to Ganymede (moon of Jupiter); about 18 people go, about 4 come back. Don is mentally unstable since he was felt responsible for the deaths of 2 crew members that went to collect samples of organic compounds for him (proving life was on Ganymede). About 1/3 of the movie is in space returning to Earth, 1/3 flash back to Ganymede, and 1/3 hiking through the desert when they force on a landing on (what may/may-not be) Earth after they aren't met when they return to Earth's orbit. The dubbing was one of those classic "ha! you are a crazy person, yes a crazy person, and I say that without malice, I do, it's just that you are a crazy person." who's responsible for that dubbing? Some of the on-Ganymede effects were well done, but in general it seemed like the cinematography was done as a high-school drama project. 10 minutes spent with the camera trained on someone rapelling down some rocks. At the end, you really don't have a clue what it was all about. Was Don crazy? Were they on Earth? Did Earth still exist? Were they in Mexico? Did 14 really die on Ganymede? Why did no one meet them on their return? And considering they were out of water all the time, how did they keep getting more?

They couldn't even get the name Ganymede right in the title. Pretty much tells you all you need to know about this movie.

Scifi is about ideas, not special effects. We have all suffered through the big CGI science fiction extravaganzas, rolling our eyes because the characters and plots are so lame. This unknown gem is very bare of special effects, but rich on story and the concept is very frightening. It's low, low budget, and shows it, however, the drama is brilliant and richly textured. After a many year mission to Ganymed, the astronauts return home.to a terrifying situation, and that's when their real struggle for survival begins. It's a story that will haunt me for awhile. Very well done, and very refreshing.