Hard to Be a God

A bleak, philosophically dense meditation on the limits of non-intervention and the moral paralysis of witnessing atrocity without the power to stop it.

A group of scientists is sent to the planet Arkanar to help the local civilization, which is in the Medieval phase of its own history, to find the right path to progress. Their task is a difficult one: they cannot interfere violently and in no case can they kill. The scientist Rumata tries to save the local intellectuals from their punishment and cannot avoid taking a position.