Solaris (2002)
Set in: late 21st century?
Approach to the future
Ratings
Interesting depictions
Other technologies / topics
Summary Table |
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Event |
Likelihood |
Time frame |
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Regular interstellar travel |
very low? |
beyond 2100 |
| Alien contact | very low? | at any time |
Approach to the future |
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Philosophical scenario exploration |
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Ratings |
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Futurism: 5 |
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Solaris is an usually thoughtful depiction of aliens. Other aspects of the future are not addressed. Space travel implies a distant future, but the glimpses we see of daily life—and someone’s use of the word “Internet”—suggest a near-term future. |
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Entertainment: 7 |
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The movie is unexpectedly similar to the 1972 Russian version, which was very Russian in pace and tone. It is ultimately all emotional and philosophical pondering; Dostoyevsky in space, as it were, a brave stance for a mainstream American movie. |
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Plausibility: 6 |
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Interesting depictions |
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Alien contact: |
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| “I could tell you what’s happening,” a character says, “But I don’t know if that would really tell you what’s happening.” | |
| The personnel of the space station above the planet Solaris are receiving “visitors,” as they call them, people who cannot be there. One man sees his son; Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) sees someone from his past. |
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| They do not know how, or why. The planet itself seemed to know that it is being observed, a scientist notes, and they speculate that the planet is sending the visitors. What does it want, someone asks. “Why do you think it has to want something?” his colleague replies. | |
| It is that befuddlement which makes Solaris an unusually good depiction of aliens. Real aliens are likely to be surpassingly strange (see A Note on Aliens). | |
| Extracting and understanding memories may be all but impossible, and an alien life form would find it particularly difficult. But the intelligent ocean of Solaris offers an explanation. With a planet-sized sensing instrument and an ocean's worth of energy and biocomputing power, it might be capable of near-total examination of the structure of its human subjects' brains. After sufficient study, it might well be capable of reconstructing memories, and manifesting them as it saw fit. | |
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| Futuristmovies.com, © 2002 Josh Calder |