On the Silver Globe (film)
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| On the Silver Globe | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover of the Polart edition |
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| Directed by | Andrzej Żuławski |
| Written by | Andrzej Żuławski Jerzy Żuławski |
| Starring | Andrzej Seweryn Jerzy Trela Iwona Bielska Grażyna Dyląg |
| Music by | Andrzej Korzyński |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Jaroszewicz |
| Release date(s) |  February 1989 |
| Running time | 157 min |
| Language | Polish |
| IMDb profile | |
On the Silver Globe (Polish: Na srebrnym globie) is a Polish film released in 1987, directed by Andrzej Żuławski and adapted from a novel by Jerzy Żuławski.
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[edit] Plot
A group of space researchers leaves earth to find freedom. Their spaceship crashes on the dark side of the moon. Shortly afterwards, all but the children and one adult. They create their own society, characterized by shamanism and the worship of fire. The last adult survivor is called the Old Man, who is both worshipped and loathed. The Old Man leaves the group of children for the mountains and sends his video diary in a rocket back to Earth. A space researcher named Marek (Andrzej Seweryn) receives the video diary and travels to the moon. When he arrives he is welcomed by the group of children as the messiah, seeing him as the reincarnation of the Old Man.
[edit] Production
The novel On the Silver Globe on which the film is based was written at around 1900 as part of The Lunar Trilogy by Jerzy Żuławski, who was the grand uncle of Andrzej Żuławski. Andrzej Żuławski had left his native Poland for France in 1972, seeking artistic freedom and to avoid censorship by the Polish government. Thanks to his critical success with the 1975 film L'important c'est d'aimer Polish authorities in charge of cultural affairs reevaluated their assesment of Żuławski. He was then invited to return to Poland and to realize a project of his own choice. Andrzej Żuławski, who had always wanted to make film of his grand uncle's novel, saw this offer as a unique opportunity to achieve this aim.
Between 1975 and 1977 Żuławski adapted the novel and wrote the screenplay. The film was shot at various locations, including the baltic seashore at Lisi Jar near Rozewie, Lower Silesia, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, the Tatra Mountains, the Caucasus mountains in Georgia, the Crimea in the Ukraine and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.[1] In fall 1977 the project came to a sudden halt with the appointment of Janusz Wilhelmi as the vice minister of cultural affairs. He perceived the battle between the Selenites and the Szerns in the film as a thinly-veiled allegory of the Polish people's struggle with totalitarianism. Consequently Wilhelmi shut down the film project, which was eighty percent complete and ordered all materials destroyed.
Żuławski went back to France, saying that he was in despair over the loss and waste of so much artistic effort. The reels of the unfinished film were ultimately not destroyed, but along with costumes and props preserved by the film studio and by members of the film's cast and crew. Although Wilhelmi died a few months later in a plane crash the film was only completed after the end of communist rule. In May 1988 the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
[edit] References
- ^ Żuławski, Andrzej. Na Srebrnym Globie (1987). Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
