“Russia is a nation that never had a renaissance,” German would say in the behind the scenes footage of Hard to Be a God. The sentence stands out because it’s true; the advancements of the European renaissance had to be imported to Russia. It’s enough to make you wonder if the medieval science fiction world of Arkanar is Russia’s true face. That its soul is still in the dark ages. That might explain the problems addressed in German's other films. In the same footage, German singles out the Russian celebration of tyrants as an example of what he's getting at. He relates a conversation that he had with fellow filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, about how there are no statues of Tsar Alexander II, also called Alexander The Liberator who did many great things for Russians, while statues of people who were responsible for the death and misery of so many of their own citizens can be found all over.

German is explicitly weary of the effects of power on people. He'd state (while Karmalita is in earshot) that if he were in the shoes of a man like Stalin, “I’d hang Svetlana just in case she thought of organizing a coup.” It sounds unfathomably cruel, but true, which is why he needs to say it. I think back to The Fall of Otrar, and really Don Rumata’s arc is like seeing Undzhu Khan become Ghengis Khan. What the character of Rumata is, is to make us recognize in ourselves our capacity for atrocity. That's some tough love.