The Noah's Ark Principle

Everything bad comes from above: long before "Independence Day" and "Moonfall", German director Roland Emmerich had already proven his penchant for dramatic sci-fi action films about an endangered Earth: In "The Noah's Ark Principle", we follow the crew of the Euro-American space station Florida Arklab as it floats close to 200 kilometers above the Earth in 1997. A newly developed radiation technology is to be used to influence the Earth's weather patterns - ostensibly to prevent climate-related disasters. When a revolution breaks out in Saudi Arabia, the new technology is suddenly threatened with misuse as an instrument of war. The US military takes control of the civilian station, which the astronauts Hayes and Marek try to prevent with acts of sabotage. They fear destructive natural disasters if the targeted regions are irradiated... With its antiquated-looking technology in the sci-fi excursion into the year 1997 (!) and Richy Müller and Franz Buchrieser as worried astronauts, the film, which was shot in 1982-1984, provides all kinds of nostalgic flair. It should also be noted that "The Noah's Ark Principle" was Roland Emmerich's graduation film at the HFF Munich, for which he raised one million German marks, whereas the usual production costs for graduation films at the time were around DM 20,000. What's more, opulent science fiction films from Germany were very unusual at the time. Even if the dialog direction is rattling, and the cinematic role models are clear - measured against the modest means, Emmerich (the "Master of Disaster") has actually succeeded in making a technically astonishing science fiction film here. What's more, in addition to its potential for humor, the omnipresent alarm of a world climate that is dangerously out of kilter makes this debut feature film highly topical.