Within the history of the Soviet Union, Environmentalism is remembered as being of little to no importance to the communist regime, but this was not always the case. The belligerent disregard for the environment was a trait only associated with Jopsef Stalin and not from …show more content…
This is one of only two of Tarkovsky’s films to not take place in the Soviet Union. His Nostalghia (1983) takes place in Italy, and Solaris takes place mostly on an interstellar space station orbiting the titular planet. The decision for Tarkovsky to explore a film set in outer space has ties into the Cold War-era tensions between the United States and the USSR. Stanely Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was released only five years before Solaris and is the most ground breaking cinematic work to bring the galaxy to movie theaters since Georges Méliès’ 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. The success of 2001 inspired Tarkovsky to take a risk a set a film in space while rivaling the psychological journey of Kubrick’s film. Another reason for Tarkovsky’s interest in space as a setting for a film is the political space race between the US and the USSR. Both countries had their eyes turned to the sky as the Soviets had launched the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik, just 15 years earlier, and the American’s had placed the first man on the moon a mere three years prior. This political push towards outer space both scientifically and cinematically, seemed appropriate that Tarkovsky would respond to Kubrick’s work with his own dramatic interpretation of our solar