When you think sci-fi, you normally don’t think “Russians”. There are exceptions — “Solaris” being one. But other than that, I can’t really think of any Russian sci-fi that has broken through onto the International stage. Well that might just change with “Inhabited Island”, a movie based on the 1971 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and a film that is rumored to be the most expensive Russian film ever made, already scraping the $40 million dollar mark. Some believe it will surpass that by the time it is finally finished.

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The novel was written in Soviet times — when Arkady and Boris Strugatsky found a way to write critically about contemporary society by setting their stories on distant planets in other galaxies. “Inhabited Island,” directed by Fedor Bondarchuk, tells the story of Maxim, a young astronaut who finds a new planet while traveling through space in the year 2157.

Crash-landing on a planet that combines medieval cruelty and customs with technologically advanced weaponry and devices, Maxim discovers he will never be able to return home.

Maxim finds love with a local girl and friendship with her brother before the three embark on a quest to challenge the planet’s totalitarian system.

“Inhabited Island” is also known as “Prisoners of Power”. Here are some early teaser trailers for the movie. They’re all 30-seconds long and really don’t show a whole lot, unfortunately. Most of the “footage” is at the very end, about 2-3 seconds worth of actual movie footage. The rest is all title sequence.