''Inquest of Pilot Pirx'' (, , ) is a joint

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

1979 film The year 1979 in film involved many significant events. Highest-grossing films United States and Canada The top ten 1979 released films by North American gross are as follows: International Major events * March 2 – Buena Vista releas ...

directed by Marek Piestrak. It is based on the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

"The Inquest" by

Stanisław Lem Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer. He was the author of many novels, short stories, and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fi ...

from his 1968 short story collection ''Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie'' (''

Tales of Pirx the Pilot ''Tales of Pirx the Pilot'' () is a science fiction stories collection by Polish author Stanisław Lem, about a spaceship pilot named Pirx. Individual stories were published during 1959-1965 in various collections. The first collection of sto ...

''; the story was translated into English in the second part, ''More Tales of Pirx the Pilot'').Marek Piestrak: widzowie nie zawiedli
interview by DAREK KUŹMA It was adapted for film by

Vladimir Valutsky Vladimir Ivanovich Valutsky () (25 September 1936 — 14 April 2015) was a Soviet and Russian screenwriter. Between 1964 and 2013 he wrote and co-wrote 60 screenplays. He was awarded the Art Worker of the RSFSR in 1987. Early years Vladimir was bo ...

. It is a joint production by Zespoly Filmowe, and

Tallinnfilm Tallinnfilm () is the oldest surviving film studio in Estonia. It was founded as Estonian Culture Film in 1931, and was nationalized in 1940 after Estonia was integrated into the Soviet Union. During the first year of Soviet occcupation (1940 ...

. Some of the studio-based filming was done at the

Dovzhenko Film Studios The Dovzhenko Film Studios () is a former Soviet film production studio in UkrSSR and Ukraine that was named after the Soviet film producer, Oleksandr Dovzhenko, in 1957. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the studio became a property of the ...

Plot summary

The spaceship "Goliath", operated by Cybertron Electronics, is assigned a mission to test research probes in the

Cassini Division Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material. Particles range fro ...

, a gap within the

rings of Saturn Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of Rock (geology), rocky material. Parti ...

. The mission’s official goal is to launch a probe, but its hidden purpose is to evaluate a new line of ''nonlinears''—advanced

android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

s with "

nonlinear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathe ...

" traits—for potential use on future space missions. Commander Pirx, selected for his integrity, initially refuses the mission but agrees after an assassination attempt by a competitor company. The diverse crew, composed of both humans and androids, keeps their identities concealed to avoid bias. Throughout the journey, suspicions emerge among the crew: Second Pilot Harry Brown claims he is human, expressing doubts about Electronics Officer Jan Otis; Neurologist Tom Novak confides that he is an android but seeks to prove his unique worth; and Engineer Kurt Weber offers clues about First Pilot Calder, who remains secretive. Suspicious events and sabotage, such as the malfunction of a probe, lead Pirx to suspect one of the androids might be pursuing a hidden agenda. Upon arriving at the Cassini Division, Calder attempts a perilous maneuver to manually launch the probe, bypassing Pirx's orders and intending to expose the human crew to deadly

g-forces The g-force or gravitational force equivalent is a mass-specific force (force per unit mass), expressed in units of standard gravity (symbol ''g'' or ''g''0, not to be confused with "g", the symbol for grams). It is used for sustained a ...

. His goal is to demonstrate the superiority of ''nonlinears'' by risking the lives of the human crew in favor of mission success. Pirx outmaneuvers Calder’s plan, resulting in the android’s destruction. Upon returning to Earth, an

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...

examines whether Pirx is liable for the near-catastrophe. As he recounts the mission, it becomes clear that the android caused the probe malfunction and the subsequent perilous attempt to navigate the Division, aiming to validate the worth of androids over humans. This revelation leads the UN to ban further production of the ''nonlinears'', though Pirx remains wary, suspecting that androids like Novak might continue blending seamlessly into human society.

Cast

* as ''Commandor Pirx'' * Aleksandr Kaidanovsky as ''Tom Nowak'', neurologist and cyberneticist *

Vladimir Ivashov Vladimir Sergeyevich Ivashov (; 28 August 1939 — 23 March 1995) was a Soviet and Russian actor. Biography He had a film career that spanned over 30 years. He is best known for his role as Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov in '' Ballad of a Soldier'' wh ...

as ''Harry Brown'', 2nd Pilot *

Tõnu Saar Tõnu Saar (6 August 1944 – 12 July 2022) was an Estonian actor.In memoriam Tõnu Saar
In 1972, ...

as ''Kurt Weber'', nucleonicist engineer * Igor Przegrodzki as ''McGuirr'' * Boleslaw Abart as ''Jan Otis'', electronicist * Janusz Bylczynski as head judge *

Mieczysław Janowski Mieczysław Edmund Janowski (born 16 November 1947 in Zduńska Wola) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Subcarpathian Voivodship with the Law and Justice, part of the Union for a Europe of Nations. He si ...

as ''Mitchell'' *

Jerzy Kaliszewski Jerzy Kaliszewski (June 8, 1912 – May 31, 1990) was a Polish actor, recipient of multiple awards. Filmography * ''Doctor Murek'' (1939) * ''Unvanquished City'' (1950) * ''Youth of Chopin'' (1952) * '' Stawka większa niż życie'' (1968) ...

as ''Dr. Kristoff'' * Zbigniew Lesien as ''John Calder'', 1st Pilot * Ferdynand Matysik as ''Green'', the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Director

Discussion

In this tale Lem puts forth the idea that what is perceived a human weakness is in fact an advantage over a perfect machine. Pirx defeats the robot because a human can hesitate, make wrong decisions, have doubts, but a robot cannot., "Lem on Film". In: Polish film critic Krzysztof Loska thinks that the film adaptation unduly shifted Lem's original focus on the definition of humanity to the trope of robot rebellion.

Jerzy Jarzębski Jerzy Jarzębski (August 22, 1947 – February 25, 2024) was a Polish literary historian and critic, a long time professor at the Jagiellonian University. He is acclaimed for his research on Witold Gombrowicz, Bruno Schulz, Stanisław Lem, as wel ...

cites the robot pilot among the examples of Lem's robots who got destroyed by an infusion of humanness into them (see "

Stanisław Lem and robots Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, Kherson Oblast, a coastal village in Ukraine * Stanislaus County, ...

" for more on this issue): the robot pilot, otherwise a perfect machine, acquires a truly humane pride and vanity, and attempts to make an "optimal" decision to show its superiority over humans.

PIRX I SEKRETY CZŁOWIECZEŃSTWA
an afterword to ''Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie ''

Reception

''Inquest of Pilot Pirx '' was awarded the "Golden Asteroid" Big Prize at the International Cinema Festival at

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

1979.Eva Näripea
Transnational Spaces of Science Fiction: An Estonian-Polish coproduction The Test of Pilot Pirx (Test pilota Pirxa / Navigaator Pirx, 1978)
''Kinokultura'', 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inquest of Pilot Pirx 1979 films 1979 drama films Films about robots 1970s science fiction drama films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Russian-language science fiction drama films Polish science fiction drama films Soviet science fiction drama films Films based on works by Stanisław Lem Films based on short fiction Tallinnfilm films Soviet multilingual films Polish multilingual films Poland–Soviet Union relations 1979 multilingual films Soviet-era Estonian films Estonian drama films Films with screenplays by Vladimir Valutsky Saturn in film Films set on spacecraft Films about androids Pirx 1979 science fiction films