#Na Srebrnym Globie

[horror-aesthete]

On the Silver Globe (Na Srebrnym Globie), 1988, dir. Andrzej Żuławski

[capture-s-ii]

Na srebrnym globie / Sur le globe d'argent (dir. Andrzej Żuławski, 1987)

[speakingparts]

Ucieczka na srebrny glob [ESCAPE TO THE SILVER GLOBE] Kuba Mikurda, 2021

DOC

[syrupwit]

[l-ultimo-squalo]

Screencaps of The Shern, a race of monstrous creatures from On the Silver Globe (1988), Andrzej Zulawski's science fiction masterpiece.

[hr-freud]

lunar fauna

lunar flora

[movie-gifs]

I carry my own space in me. I am carrying it in an absurd land in an absurd time. As if the entire world, the big one and the one inside me, merged into a hateful vision of their bodies. Looking for meaning in the other, a meaning in which the bodies cannot accommodate. On the Silver Globe (Na srebrnym globie, 1988) dir. Andrzej Żuławski

[toiich]

Na srebrnym globie [On the Silver Globe] (1988), dir. Andrzej Żuławski

[sloshed-cinema]

On the Silver Globe [Na srebrnym globie] (1976/88)

Late in the runtime of Żuławski’s incomplete science fiction epic, the astronaut Jacek finally imbibes in the chemical he has been giving members of the tribe of people living outside the institution’s headquarters. Shortly thereafter, as he races off to face the woman he’s been cheating with, he declares angrily that “every reduction to physiology is a fascism of the soul.” On the Silver Globe concerns itself with nothing less than the fundamental essence of human nature. What does it mean to be alive, to have body or soul? Can people change, or are we doomed to perpetuate the same cycle over and over? The central thrust of this narrative, composed of available footage stitched together by narration explaining scenes which had not yet been shot when production was shut down by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, concerns the establishment of a new human society after astronauts crash land on a distant planet. It takes roughly one generation for these newcomers to establish both religion and Burning Man, daubing themselves in paint and wearing elaborate headdresses. The founding astronauts quickly become enshrouded in myth as living gods. Therefore when a newcomer returns from the mountain where the forefather and god Jerzy went to die, he must be a second coming. But when the new astronaut Marek comes to follow up on the initial mission, the society he arrives to and is venerated as Messiah of has evolved as well: they’ve developed a more complex Scripture and warring factions. A foreign threat exists as well. The monstrous, telepathic Stern from across the sea have dominated this nascent civilization after the humans made an attempt to conquer new lands. Suggesting through this newly created civilization that human nature is written in stone, that we’ll always do the same thing no matter what, is a fine concept but perhaps not the most nuanced. The problem presented by the Stern makes this film both intellectually stimulating and threatening from an oppressive perspective. They are ostensibly creatures of pure evil, at least as we are told by the humans. And certainly they are capable of despicable acts: the captive Szern Avius rapes Ihezal, the beloved of Marek. But there is more in common between these factions than the humans would prefer to claim. Marek becomes obsessed with achieving some sort of Nirvana that he feels Avius can speak to, a total and complete union of soul and body into some grand Oneness which he so craves. But all the same he goes to conquer the Szern once and for all. It’s here where the other shoe drops. Images of the humans descending on the Stern city, civilians retreating into blasted homes against the advancing enemy, might not seem to out of place in World War II Europe. When Marek enters a Stern cathedral, he sees that they have the same hierarchy and aspirations, looking ever upward toward some sort of heavenly Home. Even before this, the film begins to draw parallels: both Marek and Avius are given Christlike iconography, the Stern’s brow bound in a crown of thorns as he is tortured, and the human crucified as the masses turn against him for his message. Because truly, how can they face that something they’ve defined as evil as in a way humanity through a looking glass?

Żuławski drives the knife deeper by comparing it against similar beats unfolding in the terrestrial plot line. Marek became a false Messiah for a very simple reason: he was sent off so that his girlfriend Aza could more easily cheat with his coworker Janek. And yet just as Marek becomes more driven in his quest, Janek becomes equally disquieted about the nature of the body and soul. Even acting, which could be described as the art of knowing how to evoke the soul through performance, is to him a hollow imitation of trueness. The ever more frequent cutting back and forth between the two parallel storylines as they converge thematically draws attention to just how similar they are and emphasizes this fundamentality of the truth that is being postulated. Though it is only described, what would have been the final beats of On the Silver Globe hint at this being handled in an even more surreal nature. Characters begin to appear to others in opposite storylines. Symbols like eyes painted on palms repeat from early in the film. It’s a grand, defiant statement and the film’s existence is proof that censorship of art is foolish, because suppressing artistic expression should never succeed.

Żuławski’s sensibilities with camera movements, always interesting and dynamic, are here perhaps more virtuosic than ever. Where other efforts could be described as athletic, here the image moves in a downright frenetic fashion, sprinting through chaotic scenes of war or religious demonstration. It cranes up into the sky to an almost impossible height looking down as if to gasp in despair at what is unfolding. Limbs intertwine in a Boschean bacchanal, a Garden of Otherworldly Delights. But it pushes beyond that: the camera literally becomes the perception of the characters themselves in early fragments, Jerzy recording the progress and devolution of the new society, debating his desire to depict himself, and yet capturing a final, fleeting image of his personage before transmitting his recording into the beyond. The audience are often omnipotent in films, and yet here they share perception with a perceived god. In the meta-film itself, in the “real world” when shooting footage for narration of missing fragments, the camera remains restless, sprinting through the streets, subway passages, and cathedrals of Poland. It’s maximalist and grandiose and operatic with plenty of memorable images. But perhaps the most moving one in light of it all is the glimpse of Żuławski’s reflection at the end of it all: he got the last word in this matter, even if after many years.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says 'Earth'.

Żuławski narration begins.

Green fire appears in a scene.

POV camera looks down at the character's own feet.

BIG DRINK

A sick rock jam begins.

Someone is laid to rest.

The sea is mentioned.

[adjst]

Na srebrnym globie (On the Silver Globe) - 1988

[horror-aesthete]

On the Silver Globe (Na Srebrnym Globie), 1988, dir. Andrzej Żuławski

[capture-s-ii]

Na srebrnym globie / Sur le globe d'argent (dir. Andrzej Żuławski, 1987)

[onenakedfarmer]

Watching

ON THE SILVER GLOBE [NA SREBRNYM GLOBIE] Andrzej Żuławski Poland, 1988

[aadxk]

Plakat do filmu "Na srebrnym globie" Andrzeja Żuławskiego. Andrzej Pągowski

[planinska]

[lostgoonie1980]

450. O Globo de Prata (Na srebrnym globie, 1988), dir. Andrzej Żuławski