Hard to be A God: the movie...

Hard to be a God was intended to be a swash-buckling adventure when the brothers Strugatsky first considered writing the novel. Unfortunately, they lived in Soviet Russia and one of the sporadic aesthetic interventions by the state (basically, there was some official ranting about fiction being a medium for communist ideas). Luckily, Arkady and Boris knew how to play the system. Hard to be a God manages to be compassionate and exciting, even as it explores ideas of Marxist historical dialectic.

Besides, it is both futuristic and historical: observers from a future communist Utopia have discovered an earth-like world and have been sent to watch its development from feudalism, through capitalism, to communism. Being good anthropologists, the observers immerse themselves in the society: being from an advanced society themselves, they get to kick ass.

Anyway, there's a film, and what's not to love? It's Russian, in black and white, it explores Marxism, it has plenty of grubby medieval action and Errol Flynn style shenanigans. And it is coming to the GFT.






Hard to Be a God is a Russian science fiction film directed by Aleksey German. Based on the novel "Hard to Be a God" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

Freedom of Speech in the USSR

In the afterword to the excellent Soviet era science fiction novel Hard To Be A God, co-author Boris Strugatsky reflects on the political turmoil during the years of the book's production. Boris and his brother were planning a swash-buckling adventure when the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev threw a strop in an art gallery. 

The 'thaw' in Soviet attitudes towards art - which was a response to the years of Stalinist censorship - looked as if it was freezing over, and even the science fiction and adventure section of the Moscow Writers' Organisation got shirty with the bros Strugatsky. 

After some drinking and negotiation, Hard To Be A God was published and was even held up as an example of politically correct writing by the authorities. The good guys won out, the world got a novel that can stand with the greats due to a resonance that goes beyond its time. It provides a critique of deterministic ideas about historical progress while retaining dynamic story-telling that pays respect to the inspiration of The Three Musketeers. 

Strugatsky's brief summary of the situation, however, is a reminder of how regimes are rather keen on controlling their artists. Khrushchev's eggy tantrum, while hilarious (he stomped about shouting at the paintings), reveals how easily repression can start, and illustrates the dangers of allowing the state to define the value of art. Once politicians are accepted as having any say in the function of, say, science fiction, it can easily become a tool of oppression, ensuring that only safe ideas are expressed. 

On the other hand, Hard To Be A Good is an example of how talented writers can get around the problems.