"Inspired by a science fiction allegory, A Million Years Before the Apocalypse by Arkadi and Boris Strugatski (authors of Tarkovsky's Stalker), Eclipse is a messianic rumination on Soviet society. In the book, a mysterious extra-terrestrial force disrupts all Earth research it considers dangerous; in the film, this allegory of an omnipotent state arrayed against isolated individuals is transformed into a phantasmagoric tale of a young doctor relegated to a godforsaken part of Asiatic Russia (where Sokurov spent his school years). In an atmosphere of stagnation and desultory fear, unknown powers interfere with his research, which his friends urge him to abandon....A series of disconnected, mystifying vignettes acts as scaffolding for the doctor's spiritual search. He must choose between compromise, submission or a probably hopeless battle. The town emerges as a microcosm of Soviet society, with Crimean Tartars and Volga Germans (both deported by Stalin to Asia), religious fanatics, and soldiers on their way to Afghanistan, all thrown together with the native population in an atmosphere of despair...an eclipse impends....The images, in brown sepia or muted, beautiful colors, are frequently spectacular....Only someone fully awake to the magic powers of film could have envisioned such (shots)..." -Amos Vogel, "Sokurov's 'Lonely Voice'," Film Comment