The Inhabited Island
A stranded space explorer confronts brainwashing, ecological ruin, and authoritarian power on a technologically regressed alien world.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- tense
- serious
- dystopian
- science fiction marathon
- action movie night
What critics said
Critics generally found the adaptation faithful to the Strugatsky novel and visually ambitious, but unevenly edited and lacking an integrated dramatic world.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The unknown planet is marked by miserable ecology, entrenched social problems, and a society technologically stuck at a primitive level.
Maxim Kammerer arrives from the Free Search Group and must navigate an unfamiliar planet whose society operates at a much lower technological and social level.
The plot explicitly involves brainwashing and Maxim's struggle against the planet's systems of ideological control.
Although the story approaches the 22nd century and begins with space travel, the inhabited planet remains at a stone-level stage of development.
Films like The Inhabited Island, and why
Dune
shared science fiction adventure, dystopian authoritarian society, and visually driven action
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
shared space-opera scale, alien-world exploration, and conflict with oppressive political systems
Equilibrium
shared dystopian science fiction, social control, and a protagonist confronting ideological manipulation
Movie Details
- Director
- Fyodor Bondarchuk
- Release Date
- 2009-01-01
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Rating
- 5.3 / 10 (116)
Cast
- Vasiliy Stepanov
- Pyotr Fyodorov
- Yuliya Snigir
- Fyodor Bondarchuk
- Sergey Garmash
- Mikhail Evlanov
- Anna Mikhalkova
- Sergey Barkovsky
- Maksim Sukhanov
- Ignat Akrachkov
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Inhabited Island about?
- A stranded space explorer confronts brainwashing, ecological ruin, and authoritarian power on a technologically regressed alien world.
- What is The Inhabited Island like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Inhabited Island as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Inhabited Island violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Inhabited Island as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Inhabited Island?
- Critics generally found the adaptation faithful to the Strugatsky novel and visually ambitious, but unevenly edited and lacking an integrated dramatic world.
- Which films are like The Inhabited Island?
- Films with a similar feel include Dune, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, and Equilibrium.
- How long is The Inhabited Island?
- The Inhabited Island runs 115 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Inhabited Island?
- In United States, The Inhabited Island streams on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads.
