The Space Race: Kubrick vs Tarkovsky
Monday, December 7th, 2009Author’s note: This article originally appeared in the November issue of Indian Auteur. Click here to read/ download the full issue.
“The Earth is Blue…How wonderful. It is amazing!” –Yuri Gagarin, first man in Space
Cinephiles all around the world will agree that two of the best science fiction films to have ever been made are 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Solaris (1972). Released during the infamous reign of the Cold War and the unofficial America-Soviet “Space Race”, these two films have risen to the ranks of the most celebrated films from their respective countries and provide important viewpoints of both sides regarding the said affair.
In 1957, the United States government announced the launch of its first satellite into outer space by the spring of 1958. This undertaking termed Project Vanguard was to be the moment that America declares itself the first country to reach space but the Russians had other plans. A mere two days after America’s announcement, the USSR announced the launch of their satellite Sputnik 1 by the fall of 1957 and went onto fulfill their promise in October of that year, making USSR the first country in space and thus beginning the Space race with America.
Project Vanguard failed to launch at Cape Canaveral to much public embarrassment but they did eventually make it four months later with Explorer 1, making USA the second space power. In the following months both sides tried to outdo the other and what ensued can only be described as scientific madness with the launch of Dogs, Chimpanzees and other animals in space to test the plausibility of a human cosmonaut to enter the realm of the gods. In April of 1961, the Soviets won this stage of the race as well when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in outer-space. The Americans saw themselves slowly falling behind and the support from the general public towards space programs reduced to disappointment.
President Kennedy re-kindled the cosmonautic flame in Americans when he promised that America will send a man to the moon and return him safely back to earth “before the decade is out”. Kennedy’s bold statement promised to capture the imagination of the Americans and for the first time since Vanguard’s announcement almost 4 years ago, they truly believed they can beat the Soviets to it.
On 29th January, 1964, a 36-year old Stanley Kubrick released what would be considered one of the greatest Black Comedies in the history of cinema. Dr. Strangelove or How I learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) was a great commentary on the ongoing Cold War between America and the Soviet Union and the possibility of a Nuclear Holocaust that the world will suffer as a result. It was only apt that he took on a project of making an epic science-fiction film next with a rise in interest from the public and the surfacing of the “New Wave” of sci-fi literature. Kubrick chose to collaborate with the already well-known science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke to write the story of the film. They had also decided to write a novel parallel to the writing of the screenplay and have both the book and the film come out at the same time.
On April 2nd, 1968 the world was finally allowed to see for the first time, Kubrick’s magnum opus that has been in the making for nearly four years. The breathtaking cinematography and the cutting-edge visual effects and the fact that the story was more of an abstract concept gave rise to either extreme enchantment with the film or complete disdain towards it and its maker.
In his film, Kubrick explores the themes of divine uncertainty in the form of an abstract, extra-terrestrial monolith that keeps appearing throughout the film. This monolith becomes somewhat of an incomprehensible being that keeps reminding the viewer that perhaps we do not understand space or the legions of stars that lay beyond our atmosphere just like we don’t understand the monolith. The very fact that the actors seem to appear so miniscule in front of the monolith each time it makes an appearance is perhaps Kubrick and Clarke’s way of telling us that we are exactly that miniscule in front of the field of space exploration.
40 years on, one can easily see the prophetic elements in the film- the use of video conferencing, flat screen display units and other scientific advancements but the one thing that man could not yet reach in the years that have passed between the film’s release and its prophecy is the fact of space travel being common practice. Kubrick’s film went onto be a hit among the very few who truly enjoyed it and the ones who didn’t but spent their money anyway just to see what the fuss was all about.
14 and-a-half months after the film, Americans- Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk the surface of the moon. Kennedy’s promise was fulfilled just 6 months before its expiration date and America finally outran the Soviets. If the USSR were the rulers of the domain of space, the Americans were the rulers of the domain of the moon. Armstrong became a global hero and some erroneously or intentionally even called him the first man in space but Gagarin never had to deal with knowing another man went further away from the blue planet than him. He had passed away in March 1968, much before Apollo 11 and much before 2001.
1971 saw the soviets come up with another innovation in their new found realm. They had launched the first space station, Salyut 1. This would form the basis for Polish author Stanislaw Lem’s science fiction novel “Solaris”. The film adaptation of the novel was directed by critically-acclaimed Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky and unlike 2001; Solaris was already a well-known published novel when the film was first proposed in 1968. Kubrick and Tarkovsky may seem like they are world’s apart (and indeed they were -the socialist eastern and the capitalist western) but their respect for the larger unknown and eye towards creating an epic image of it on the screen was similar in more ways than one.
Tarkovsky’s take on Solaris is a long, meandering meditative drama on the themes of loss and grief. Set aboard the eponymous space station, the film chronicles the journey of a psychologist recovering from the recent loss of his wife and his trip to the said station where mysterious events have been happening. Though taking the initial premise of an investigative film, it quickly switches over to a slow-moving and sparsely populated fantasy of personal levels. It was as wonderfully complex at an emotional level as 2001 was at a conceptual level. Tarkovsky’s film was a poem stretched over 165 minutes- grueling for most and awe-inspiring for the others. At 40% of the budget of 2001, Solaris was an uncommonly expensive film for Tarkovsky’s meditative realist style and a worthy reply from the USSR to the west’s great science fiction film.
Solaris was released in the USSR in 1973 after a grand showing at the Cannes the year prior and the film winning the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury. The film, much like 2001 sparked debate and unanimous acclaim alike. People would sit around dinner tables discussing the true meaning and the metaphors the film depicted and though considered a classic, the film never really got the attention that critics and cinephiles say it deserved. Lem was unhappy with Tarkovsky’s take on his novel and Tarkvosky retaliated saying that all Lem ever wanted was a page-to-page adaptation of his novel. He pointed out that Lem didn’t acknowledge film as a different medium.
At a global level, the interest in space was greatly reduced with various other world events taking place. The sci-fi new wave had settled down and was being commercially exploited into its other mutated variants such as Space-Noir, Space-Westerns and Space Operas circa Star Wars Trilogy. With innovations in cinema special effects and the rise in character-driven mythologies, people were just not that into watching films about unknowns exploring the inner complexities that are exposed quite nakedly in outer space. The inner-outer irony was simply not good enough anymore.
July 17th, 1975 saw the conclusion of the 18 year-long Space race when the two super powers decided to join hands in the Apollo-Soyuz rendez vous program in outer space when USSR’s Soyuz 19 met and docked with USA’s Apollo for the first very first time. This great international collaboration allowed astronauts from both space crafts to visit the other and conduct combined experimentations, paving the way for peace, friendship and collaboration in outer space. This marked the official end of the unofficial Space Race between the two countries.
The themes explored by Kubrick and Tarkovsky mirror the plight of their respective countries at only a very superficial level. In any other filmmaker’s hands perhaps both films might find themselves slipping into typical propaganda and limit themselves to a cultural cliché but it was only in the safe hands of these two cinematic masters have they gone on to become two of the greatest films of all time. Kubrick’s film dared to show man’s fearless exploration into the unknown and Tarkovsky’s film provided insights into man’s inner self through unknown occurrences. Both have realized that someday man will go beyond just the moon and that someday he will conquer the solar system or perhaps he is just giving himself too much ambition but one thing is certain- no matter how far away from the earth he will go, he will never be too far away from himself and that is the limit he will always be bound by.
