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Trinadtsatyy Apostol
The Thirteenth Apostle
USSR 1987
produced by Armenfilm Studios
directed by Suren Babayan
starring Juozas Budraitis, Andrei Boltney, Vladas Bagdonas, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Donatas Banionis, Algis Matulionis, Valentinas Masalskis, Juris Riinieks, Mikk Mikiver, Karen Dzhanibekyan, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Elle Kull, Mikael Dovlatyan, Vladimir Kocharyan
screenplay by Suren Babayan, Georgi Nikolayev, based on The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, music by Eduard Airapetyan
review by Mike Haberfelner
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A group of earthlings have landed on Mars, and at first the planet
seems to be little more than a barren (if habitable) piece of rock. Still,
our humans set up camp and explore, but the emptiness of the planet gets
to one of them and he shoots half the crew before he's overcome.
Interstingly, the landscape soon starts to change, first the surviving
earthmen discover manmade caves, then even an earthlike city ... and not
just any old city, it turns out to be their hometown - and with a feel of
unease (after all, their hometown isn't supposed to be here), the
astronauts return to their families. But the situation soon gets to them,
and they start shooting one another. Of the astronauts, only the captain
survives, and he is determined to find out what's going on here - and does
find out that a) the Martians are telepathic beings and most of what he
sees is just an illusion, and b) he has been placed in an insane asylum,
the sinister head doctor of which though declares him incurable and shoots
him. However, the head doctor gets his just desserts too in the end ... Whatever you expect from an adaptation of a science fiction novel by famed
science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, this is probably not it: A special
effects-free tale full of tongue-in-cheek religious symbolism,
deliberately retro sets and props, bizarre images vaguely reminiscent of
Federico Fellini, and even musical interludes every now and again. This
all does not amount to a piece of silly trash though but to a totally
original, highly ironic piece of art that's totally recommended.
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