Human ambitions and extraterrestrial intelligence: what is Valery Fokin's film "Petropolis" about

The film "Petropolis" was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival.

The film was directed by People's Artist of Russia Valery Fokin ("Between Heaven and Earth", "Transit").

The main role in the film was played by Anton Shagin (“Dandies”, “Demons”, “Foundling”).

In addition, the cast included Yulia Snigir, Odin Land Byron, Vladimir Koshevoy and others.

Despite the fact that the tape is announced as a fantastic thriller, it is more of a philosophical dystopia about a world in which the main figures of humanity maintain contact with an alien race.

The main character, a successful scientist Vladimir Ognev, moved from Russia to the United States as a child.

He studied at Berkeley, where he conducted social research on the impact of faith on a person.

Everything in his life is going well: in his career and on the personal front, he succeeded.

One day, Ognev receives an offer from the UN special department to study the scenario of a possible contact between humanity and an alien mind.

For the scientist, this is a big step forward, and after discussing the possibility with the bride, they move to Florida, where Vladimir starts a new job.

As Ognev delves into all the processes, he realizes that this scenario is not a hypothesis, but the reality in which they live.

His guesses are confirmed: Vladimir learns that the UN and leaders of states have been regularly making contact with aliens for a long time, and four ships of extraterrestrial beings are located above four major cities of the world, including St. Petersburg and Tokyo.

From that moment on, the hero's life goes downhill, in fact, like the life of all mankind.

After a long break from the cinema, Valery Fokin breaks into the film festival with a film that can surprise the viewer with its philosophy and performance.

This film is not about aliens, but about people, their fateful decisions, their stupidity and willfulness, and the choice of their hero.

The basis of the filmmaker's new tape was Kirill Fokin's fantastic story "Fire", which has been played on the theater stage since 2016.

First of all, it is worth noting that the film shows the influence of the theater on the director, which makes it multifaceted and complex.

According to Fokin, as a theater director, he likes to combine these two areas of creativity together.

• © Shot from the filming of the film "Petropolis"/kinopoisk.ru

The film is built on the memories of the protagonist, on his feelings, analysis of thoughts and feelings.

Therefore, it lacks time and space boundaries.

Vladimir walks along a long gray corridor, which, as the director explained, is a corridor of memory, and enters different rooms, each of which is some episode of his life significant for the story.

The hero wanders through an unknown gray space as if in his own mind, simultaneously thinking about what happened and communicating with the person who, for certain reasons, locked him there.

One door opens - and Vladimir finds himself in a small St. Petersburg apartment, the second leads to the office at the UN, the third - to a cozy coastal house in Florida.

So, moving from one episode to another, he lives most of his life, getting to the main event, for which he sacrificed everything: love, family and even life.

The viewer seems to be in the subconscious of the hero, experiencing with him the bitterness of loss, joy, regret and fear.

The entire film was filmed in a multi-thousand-square-meter pavilion, and all that the viewer sees on the screen is the scenery and visual effects.

I would like to acknowledge the artist Alexei Tregubov and the special effects team, which managed to accurately depict Tokyo, Florida and other places featured in the film.

"It was interesting.

A huge pavilion was built in a huge workshop, ”Petropolis director of photography Ilya Ovsenev said during a press conference at the Oktyabr cinema.

Playing in an artificially created world is hard, but the actors coped with it to the fullest.

Anton Shagin said that the preparation for the shooting was the most difficult for him, since his text is specific, with scientific vocabulary, which the actor does not use in life.

“There was no time for buildup.

I had to work 12-13 hours a day.

It was a great time.

Such a real creative journey,” recalls Shagin.

In addition to Russian artists, foreign ones starred in the tape.

Among them is the Japanese Junsuke Kinoshita.

The authors of "Petropolis" study the theme of human boundless ambitions, selfishness, which makes them go over their heads and not think about the possible horrifying consequences.

There are several such people in the picture - they all rule states and the fate of the whole world depends on each of their decisions.

It is noteworthy that there are no images of alien creatures in the tape, the viewer hears only their voice.

Scenes in which people come into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence look original: aliens seem to penetrate into their heads, creating a collective conversation.

By the way, all the characters in the film communicate in their own languages, but despite this, they understand each other without any problems.

Also very intriguing is the theory of the scientist about why the alien race surpasses earthlings in intelligence and life.

Vladimir Ognev believes that in the past, aliens were the same as people, but then, for the sake of peace and common prosperity, they abandoned their individuality and began to live according to the principle of collective intelligence.

Meanwhile, the filmmakers preferred to leave the finale open and blurry: each viewer will understand it in their own way.

The director himself said that the ending "consists in the fact that he (the hero. -

) as a new Adam comes to a world that has been reset."

The film "Petropolis" will be released in wide release on October 27, 2022.