Transcript of Solaris (And How it Influenced Silent Hill 2) | Monsters of the Week
RagnarRox
0:07This is the story of a grieving young man,0:10who suffers from survivor’s guilt over the
untimely demise of his beloved wife...0:16he follows his calling to venture to an isolated
and enigmatic place0:21in search of answers.0:22But... something’s amiss...0:24...something’s wrong with this place...0:26as if things are not the way they’re supposed
to be.0:29He finds two other persons who are stuck here
as well -0:33and just like him, they seem to be haunted
by their past as well.0:38But they’re behaviour is strangely... distant...
obscure and detached...0:43...almost as if they weren’t really there,0:45as if they were in a different place entirely,0:48see things that he doesn’t, things that
are impalpable for him.0:52Until he meets... his wife!0:55This can’t be her, can it?0:56It must be a delusion, she passed away, years
ago!1:00But unmistakably - there she stands, right
in front of him.1:04That woman, she looks identical to the love
whose loss he’s been mourning for so long.1:10There she stands, like an illusive effigy
carved from a perfect, wide-eyed memory.1:15But... that’s what this place does to people.1:18Not just to him but to the others as well
and probably to everyone who ends up here.1:23This place... it seems to be alive, seems
to have a will,1:28like an elusive intelligence that draws unearthly
energies from its enigmatic waters.1:35It seems as if it attempts to communicate
by spawning perverted mental projections1:40of the repressed and traumatic memories of
its guests...1:43...or its... hosts?1:45And by that... it makes them face their innermost
demons1:49and pushes them to the brink of insanity.1:54You might think I just told you the plot of
Silent Hill 2.2:00But that...2:01...was actually the story...2:10...of Solaris.2:39Here’s my hypothesis:2:41Solaris served as one of Silent Hill 2’s
major narrative influences.2:46Aside from the usual suspects:2:48Dostoevski’s Crime and Punishment,2:50David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Lost Highway
and Twin Peaks,2:54as well as Jacob’s Ladder, Phantoms2:55and a few other officially confirmed inspirational
works -2:58Solaris’ influence has never been formally
acknowledged by any of Team Silent’s members,3:03but the thematic similarities between the
two works are so striking that3:08- as you’ve just seen in the opening sequence -3:10I can easily summarize Solaris’ plot outline3:12- just without using any specifics and names -3:15and it could just as well be a retelling of
Silent Hill 2’s story.3:19But let’s start at the bottom:3:21Solaris is, originally, a science-fiction
novel written by Stanislaw Lem in 19613:27which depicts the futility of attempted communications
with extraterrestrial life on a far-distant planet.3:34This eponymous celestial body has caught the
interest of scientists and scholars3:38around the world after discovering that it
moves apparently3:41against all known rules of space physics.3:44Upon closer examination, researchers found
it’s almost entirely covered3:48in a gelatinous ocean that seems to form and
shape against the laws of nature.3:53It was quickly hypothesized that Solaris’
ocean is a single, planet-encompassing organism;3:59a truly alien, intelligent life form.4:02You know how in most science fiction stories,4:05extraterrestrials are almost always some form
of humanoid or insectoid projection4:10of inherently human archetypes to serve as
an easily comprehensible,4:14often villainous plot-device.4:16But Solaris’s ocean is such a fundamentally
different form of life,4:20that even the world’s leading academics
couldn’t agree4:23on whether it is, in fact, a life form or
not.4:27Solaristics, which this newly arisen field
of study was named,4:31quickly became the centerpiece of human curiosity.4:34To research and investigate Solaris’s ocean,4:37and more importantly to attempt establishing
some form of communication with it,4:41a small group of scientists had been sent
to set up a space station4:45orbiting around the planet and for decades,
all they did was4:48observe and compile an elaborate compendium
of its strange idiosyncrasies.4:53But after decades of inconclusive research,
they had finally decided4:57to conduct an unauthorized experiment in which
they exposed the ocean5:01to extremely high energy X-Ray radiation...5:05...which resulted in some unexpected reactions.5:07Shortly thereafter, the station’s lead scientist
Dr. Giberian5:11sent out a distress signal to earth, asking
specifically for his old friend,5:15the psychologist Kris Kelvin to come to Solaris
and investigate5:19unspecified strange happenings that have occurred
lately.5:23This is where the main storyline takes place
and where things become inexplicably weird.5:28Stanislaw Lem’s novel had been turned into
3 movie adaptations so far.5:33The first came out in 1968 on Soviet Television program5:37and this one focused heavily on the science-background
of Lem’s story.5:41Four years later, the second adaptation was
released in Soviet cinemas,5:45this time directed by Andrei Tarkowski.5:47His interpretation on the film is very typical
for soviet cinema, at that time,5:51paid by the academy and without a care in
the world for financial success5:54but mainly concerned with artistic aspiration:5:57deeply philosophical and “phantasmagorically”
poetic6:00with a patience that is hard to find in modern...6:04...capitalistic filmmaking.6:05Its core theme is the psychological and emotional
struggle of the people on Solaris -6:10imposing fundamental questions of existentialism
on the protagonists and the viewers alike.6:15This is also the version that, with utmost
certainty,6:18has influenced the writers of Silent Hill
2 the most.6:21Because even though there had also been a
third adaptation6:23directed by Steven Soderbergh and produced
by James Cameron,6:27this one came out 1 year after Silent Hill
2.6:30Nevertheless, it’s also a very fine, highly
artistic and beautiful rendition of Lem’s novel.6:35But it doesn’t come close to the artistic brilliance
of Tarkowski’s work though, if you ask me.6:40So in this video, we’re gonna focus on
Tarkowski.6:44So enough beating around the bush, what the
hell happens on Solaris?6:49Following Giberian’s distress call, the
protagonist Kris Kelvin travels to Solaris6:54and upon his arrival, he only finds 2 scientists
left on board.6:58Giberian himself apparently took his own life
only days ago.7:02Kelvin instantly senses that something is
wrong in this place,7:05not only because of this suicide,7:07but mainly by the way the two remaining people
on the station,7:10Dr. Snaut and Dr. Sartorius behave and talk.7:14Similar to Angela and Eddie in Silent Hill
2,7:17the scientists are distant and act deeply
disturbed.7:21The voice acting of Silent Hill 2 has often
been criticized7:23for being stale and disconnected, but in all
honesty,7:27the original voice cast did a fantastic job
in giving the conversations7:31a very dream-like, surreal tone that perfectly
portrays people7:35that are lost in their own delusions,7:37constantly talking past each other.7:53In Solaris, Tarkowski once again shows his mastery in
establishing this multi-layered, unsettling,7:59dream-like atmosphere simply through the way
people talk and act,8:02unmistakably conveying how something is amiss,8:05without making it obvious to the viewer what
is actually wrong.8:36A sort of inverted dramatic irony, in which
every character knows something that the viewer doesn’t...8:42...And that Kelvin doesn’t know either.8:44Snaut only seems to make sense with every
third sentence he utters,8:48like he’s gone utterly mad8:50while Sartorius is extremely secretive, not
allowing Kelvin to enter his quarters,8:56obviously hiding something or someone.8:59But as has already been implied, Kelvin soon
learns what’s going on,9:03when he’s spontaneously visited by his wife
Hari in his room.9:06Who ... had already died several years ago.9:09Just like with Mary in James’ case, Kelvin had
been guilt-stricken by her death.9:14In his case, he didn’t actively kill her,
but she committed suicide9:18resulting from their tumultuous divorce.9:21Gripped by a sudden fear - because he realizes
that this can’t be the real Hari -9:25he lures her into a space shuttle before launching
it into the stratosphere.9:30But no dice, Hari’s doppelganger keeps returning
with no recollection of the past9:35and so - just as Maria - the doppelganger
of James Sunderlands’ wife,9:39dies over and over again -9:41so too is Kelvin forced to witness his loved
one’s apparition die repeatedly in horrible9:46ways.9:47And just like Maria is not a carbon copy of
James’ wife,9:50but rather a projection of his idealized,
rose-tinted memories of her,9:55Kelvin’s visitor - as the scientists on
Solaris call them -9:58is also shaped solely from the things Kelvin
remembers about Hari.10:22While the scientists’ attempts to establish
communication with Solaris’ ocean failed,10:27they quickly come to the hypothesis that these
‘visitors’10:30are the planet’s first attempt to communicate
with them.10:34A practically omnipotent being that feeds
off the emotionally most significant information10:39locked away in the minds of its hosts,10:42which it clumsily uses to recreate them in
physical form in an attempt to provoke a reaction.10:47And it achieves the desired effect.10:50Hari in particular appears to be more than
a soulless husk.10:55Even though she’s sculpted from Kelvin’s
unfulfilled desire for redemption,10:59she appears to be alive, sentient, equally
aware and afraid of her existence11:04while puzzled by the inscrutable reasons behind
it.11:08In one of the film’s pivotal scenes,11:10Hari, looking at her reflection in a mirror,11:12wonders whether being an indistinguishable
copy of a human being11:16does, in fact, make her a human being, or
if she is something aberrant ...11:20...and abject.11:22Very similar to the introspective monologue
Maria holds in the beginning of ‘Born from a Wish’11:27- also looking at her reflection in the mirror -11:29and wondering what her wretched existence
means and how it all makes sense for her to...11:34...be.11:35Scientifically, Hari is something else, something
inherently inhuman,11:39but her emotions tell her otherwise;11:42that she is indeed as human as the people
living on this station.11:46This fundamental conundrum of existentialism
extends not only to Hari and Kelvin,11:52but ultimately also to the viewer.11:54Many great pieces of literature and media
have tackled this11:57deeply philosophical and ethical question.12:00Because its fascination lies in the fact that,
despite its philosophical gravity,12:06there are no ultimate answers for it.12:08Thinking about it in and of itself is its
own purpose and the reason for the torment it causes.12:14And so the investigative purpose
of Kelvin’s mission12:17becomes secondary to his true objective:12:19To find redemption from his guilt.12:22While Silent Hill 2 focuses heavily and openly
on horror themes12:26to convey its very personal and thought-provoking
narrative,12:30Andrei Tarkowski’s Solaris is a surrealistic
and philosophical piece of cinematic art12:36that employs the novel’s science-fiction
setting to explore12:39similar fundamental questions of human
psychology.12:42Trauma, repression, guilt, remorse...12:45...and the many different facets of love.12:48Including the deep scars that the loss of
a loved person can leave in the survivor.12:53It’s a film that takes its time to carefully
build up to its most riveting moments12:59and when they unleash, the always hit hard,13:02leaving a long-lasting impact on the viewer.13:05Tarkowski’s films are known for their dreamlike
elegance and their many layers of symbolism13:10that make you ponder about it for long after
watching it.13:14And that makes it all the more rewarding to
discover something new each time you watch it again.13:19If you consider yourself a fan of Silent Hill
2 or if any of what I just showed13:24you even remotely caught your interest,13:26I can’t recommend watching it enough.13:28But be warned - it’s not an easily approachable
watch13:32when you’re used to fast-paced modern cinema.13:35It’s, as I said, very slow-paced - sometimes
even dreadfully so.13:40Tarkowski apparently once said in an interview
that he made the first hour of the movie13:44deliberately boring to get all the idiots
to leave the cinema before the film takes up momentum.13:54Thank you for watching Monsters of the Week.13:56If you’ve enjoyed this video, then don’t
forget to leave a like,14:00subscribe if you haven’t already and leave
a comment down below.14:04And if you’d like to support me directly,
then why not leave a dollar or two on my Patreon?14:09So until next time...14:11...Remember...14:12...The Truth is Out There.
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