On the Silver Globe
Polish poster
Directed by	Andrzej Żuławski
Written by	Andrzej Żuławski
Based on	The Lunar Trilogy by Jerzy Żuławski
Produced by	Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Starring	Andrzej Seweryn Jerzy Trela Iwona Bielska Grażyna Dyląg Jan Frycz Krystyna Janda
Cinematography	Andrzej Jaroszewicz
Edited by	Krzysztof Osiecki
Music by	Andrzej Korzyński
Production company	Zespól Filmowy "Kadr"
Release dates	12 May 1988 (1988-05-12) (Cannes) 10 February 1989 (1989-02-10)
Running time	166 minutes
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Budget	at least 58 milion PLN

On the Silver Globe (Polish: Na srebrnym globie) is a 1988 Polish epic science fiction film^[1] directed and written by Andrzej Żuławski, adapted from The Lunar Trilogy by Jerzy Żuławski. Starring Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Trela, Iwona Bielska, Jan Frycz, Henryk Bista, Grażyna Deląg and Krystyna Janda, the plot follows a team of astronauts who land on an uninhabited planet and form a society. Many years later, a single astronaut is sent to the planet and becomes a messiah.

Production took place from 1976 to 1977, but was interrupted by the decision of the Polish authorities. The film's budget is estimated to be at least PLN 58 million.^[2] Many years later, Żuławski was able to finish his film, although not in the format originally intended. On the Silver Globe premiered at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, and has received critical acclaim.

Plot

In the far future, a group of dissident astronauts crash land on an unnamed Earth-like planet after escaping from a degraded and vaguely dystopian Earth. A man named Thomas succumbs to his injuries shortly after. As a result of the accident, only three astronauts remain, a woman named Marta and two men, Piotr and Jerzy. Communication with Earth is lost, the survivors decide to settle on the seashore and give rise to a new human race.

After the birth of their first son, Marta notices that the child is growing much faster than on Earth. Later, An unseen enemy kills Piotr and Marta dies in childbirth. A few decades later, when Jerzy is in his old age, the new humanity is a tribe of several dozen people with whom he can no longer make contact, they are partially feral and view Jerzy as a demigod. Before he dies, he sends a video diary to Earth containing recordings from handheld video cameras.

A planetary scientist named Marek receives the video diary and travels to the planet. When he arrives, the priests in power declare Marek to be the messiah, who, according to prophecy, must free humans from the power of telepathic bird-like humanoids called "Sherns", the planet's native inhabitants. Marek accepts this role and leads a military campaign against the Sherns. Back on Earth, it's shown the reason Marek was sent to this planet in the first place was because his girlfriend, an actress, was sleeping with a fellow officer and they wanted to get rid of him to continue their affair. At first the humans succeed and capture the Shern leader Avius, but the subsequent landing in the Shern city ends in disaster. Meanwhile, the priests start to believe that Marek was an outcast from the Earth, rather than a messiah who came to fulfill the religious prophecy. Marek is stoned and then crucified.

Cast

• Andrzej Seweryn as Marek^[3]
• Jerzy Trela as Jerzy / The Old Man
• Grazyna Dyląg as Ihezal
• Waldemar Kownacki as Jacek
• Iwona Bielska as Marta
• Jerzy Gralek as Piotr
• Elzbieta Karkoszka as Ada, daughter of Marta
• Krystyna Janda as Aza
• Maciej Góraj as Jeret, a warrior
• Henryk Talar as Mark's guide
• Leszek Dlugosz as Tomasz
• Jan Frycz (credited as Andrzej Frycz) as Tomasz II, son of Marta and Tomasz
• Henryk Bista as High Priest Malahuda
• Wiesław Komasa as Actor
• Jerzy Goliński as astronaut
• Andrzej Lubicz-Piotrowski as Awij

Production

The underground temple was filmed in the Wieliczka salt mine.

Jerzy Żuławski wrote the novel on which the film is based, On the Silver Globe, around 1900 as part of The Lunar Trilogy. Żuławski was the granduncle of Andrzej Żuławski. Andrzej Żuławski left his native Poland for France in 1972 to avoid Polish communist government censorship. After Żuławski's critical success with the 1975 film L'important c'est d'aimer, the Polish authorities in charge of cultural affairs reevaluated their assessment of him. They invited him to return to Poland and produce a project of his own choice. Żuławski, who had always wanted to make a film of his grand uncle's novel, saw the offer as a unique opportunity to achieve this aim.

Principal photography started on June 20, 1976 in Jastrzębia Góra. Until September 29, scenes for the film were filmed on the Polish coast and in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.^[2]

Subsequently, the work was stopped on charges of "extremely low labor efficiency and overprices". Żuławski undertook to speed up the work. Until May 1977, the next shots for the film were made in Police, in Lower Silesia, in the Wieliczka salt mine, in Krakow, again on the coast and in the mountains of the Caucasus.^[4]

On June 1, 1977, work on the film was stopped by decision of Janusz Wilhelmi, vice-minister of cultural affairs.^[2] Wilhelmi shut down the film project, which was eighty percent complete, and ordered all materials destroyed. The reels of the unfinished film were ultimately not destroyed, but preserved, along with costumes and props, by the film studio and by members of the cast and crew.

At the end of 1985, Żuławski accepted the proposal to complete the film. In 1986, shots were shot from the streets of contemporary Poland, to which the director added the missing scenes. The acting team recorded dubbing. Cast members abroad were also dubbed.^[2]

On July 10, 1987, the film passed inspection.^[2] In May 1988, a version of the film, consisting of the preserved footage plus a commentary to fill in the narrative gaps, premiered at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.^[5]

Reception

Legacy

In 2021, Kuba Mikurda released Escape to the Silver Globe, a documentary film about the production of On the Silver Globe.^[1]

References

External links

• Na srebrnym globie at IMDb
• Na srebrnym globie on the Official Homepage of Andrzej Żuławski
• Comprehensive website on On the Silver Globe (in Polish)