This West German and Russian co-production mixes historical drama with science fiction, creating an alien world with odd decor and costumes so its unfamiliar setting becomes a bastard version of the Dark Ages. Although realistically brutal and dirty in the way Hollywood ignores, the performances are nevertheless hampered by bad dubbing and horrendous wigs – all of which add to the general air of irony that helmer Fleischmann brings to the production.

As a pre-renaissance drama unfolds below, hi-tech observers orbit the planet in a cheap-looking spaceship. This – coupled with Fleischmann’s use of the subjective camera – acts as a distancing device that comments on the more ridiculous aspects of the film; as if to excuse the conventional narrative that ultimately consumes the film and ties up all the loose ends into neat little bundles. Curious then that the film plays out with an out-of-place soft-rock power ballad: a possible sign of the eye the producer’s had on their respective markets.

(Irrationally, the film was so hated by the authors of its source material that they have since planned a remake, using an all Russian cast and crew. They objected to Fleischmann’s nationality!)

Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein at the IMDb