Long ago, in 1973, when I was in college, I saw a movie made in Russia. It was called Solaris. When I was young, my ability to suspend disbelief was childlike and intense. Solaris touched me deeply. It is the story of a man who journeys to a space station that is orbiting around a sentient planet. There is no population of intelligent beings on this planet, but it is an entire intelligence of its own. The name of the planet is Solaris. It is covered by a "colloidal ocean." Solaris communicates with the human beings in the space station in a unique way. I won't tell you what it does, because that would ruin some of the impact of the movie.
Recently this movie has been redone with George Clooney. It was panned by the critics and I do not plan to see it. The beauty, mystery and integrity of the original Russian film Solaris truly can't be improved upon. Clooney doesn't have the depth necessary to star in such a film.
After I saw the movie back in 1973 (it was made in 1972) it disappeared and I haven't been able to find it again until I tried Netflicks. I joined just to see this movie again, but living in rural Alaska, where cable and even satellite TV is not an option, and where we get about two and a half stations, Netflicks is a nice addition to my flexibility. I can now rent movies without having to go into town to take them back too soon. They have movies I'd never find in any video store, not to mention the ones here in Fairbanks.
Solaris is based on a book by Stanislaw Lem, the "grandfather" of science fiction. I highly recommend all of his books. The Cyberiad is an absolutely hysterical book of short stories about the universe as run by robots. Not surprisingly, the robots act quite a bit like people. I used to read thise book to my son for bedtime stories and he still loves to remember stories of Trurl and Klapaucius, the two robot protagonists.
Lem is adept at writing what really matters. His stories and novels are about people, regardless of the setting, whether it is in the future, or within a frightening maze of bureaucracy. After I saw Solaris I began reading any books by Lem that I could find, and I have never been disappointed. (Lem is Polish, but there are good translations available.) He writes about the questions, "Who are we?" and "What is real?" and "What is important?" These are not easy questions. His books are not "what if" science fiction. They are built on deeply human questions. It is up to the reader to figure out the answers, too. Lem isn't giving anything away.
This is the problem with Hollywood making a Lem story into a movie. Hollywood wants to write "what if" stories, and that's not what Solaris is about.
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