God, creation, and the problem of evil

Solaris, God and Ineffability

The film "Solaris" concerns a psychiatrist, Chris Kelvin, who is sent to a space station where the crew appears to be experiencing a collective mental breakdown. Chris is to provide his superiors with a report on the mental state of the crew, which will be used in deciding the fate of the station. The issues addressed by the film revolve around the ineffability of death, as well as the role of a supreme being in the events after death. In general terms, the nature of death is often seen on the basis of religion. Most religions have a very specific after-death ideal. Ancient ideas such as the Viking Valhalla and the Nirvana of Eastern religions have evolved to the current forms of Heaven and Transcendence. The film then attempts to answer the question of life after death in the affirmative: life, or at least love, does survive physical death. In this, it considers the ineffability of the God force, life, and the ultimate fate of the human soul.

In the film, the ineffable God power is represented by the planet Solaris. The human beings in the space station do not understand the planet's actions or plans. Their reaction to the incomprehensibility of the events plaguing them is therefore general madness, mostly ending in suicide. It is unclear to the audience whether the planet's intentions are beneficent or malicious. It appears from the beginning that the planet exudes a malicious force in its negative effects upon the crew. However, its final effect upon Chris in terms of his growth and his ultimate ability to forgive, appears to be of beneficial design. Furthermore, the dichotomy between the malicious and beneficent nature of the planet as god force also appears to be connected to its ineffable nature. Those at the space station do not understand the meaning of their 'phantoms', and they are too terrified to attempt understanding. Chris, on the other hand, overcomes his terror sufficiently to ultimately understand and accept the phantom of Rheya, his demised love.

Chris comes to the station with the heavy burden of his guilt. He was unable to forgive Rheya for aborting their child. Chris's inability to forgive her proved too much and she committed suicide. Solaris provides Chris with the opportunity to interact with Rheya, and to lay the demons of his past to rest. After attempting to destroy Rheya's phantom, he however comes to terms with her and is rewarded with a type of "afterlife," where he lives perfectly and happily with Rheya.

In addition to the ineffability of the god force symbolized by Solaris in the film, life, love and death are concomitantly viewed in terms of this theme. Chris's guilt makes his life nearly unbearable. Rheya's phantom provides him with the opportunity to not only relive painful memories, but also to eradicate and atone for his actions. The culmination of this is a dual scene where he remains on the station and merges with the planet, while also returning to earth to live with Rheya. In this afterlife, not only life, but also perfect love survives.

Such an ending could be interpreted in a variety of ways. It could be that Solaris has an essentially malevolent nature, and has deceived Chris into believing that he has a happy life on earth, while he is in fact a prisoner as part of Solaris. This however does not appear likely in the light of the fact that the main character has redeemed himself by overcoming both his guilt and the blame he held against Rheya. He moves through repeated separation with the phantom Rheya, but both he and the phantom overcome this to be rewarded with their "new" lives on earth. In this, it appears to be that the film indicates an afterlife as targeted reward for forgiveness and atonement.

Forgiveness and atonement for the reward of an afterlife are very religious terms. In general, orthodox religion, forgiveness and afterlife are the responsibility of the God force. In essence, the human being can do little more than try to please the deity. In "Solaris," the power of forgiveness and atonement lie directly with the human beings. Solaris is an impersonal force that acts as an instrument of cause and effect. The inhabitants of the space station have the option of redeeming themselves in the same way that Christ does, but they choose not to on the basis of their debilitating fear. It can be argued that they have no way of knowing the outcome of their reactions. And indeed, nor does Chris. What differentiates Chris from the rest of the crew is the love he feels for Rheya. Love in the end is the essential force that enables him to forgive both Rheya and himself, and in the end love both redeems and kills him. This dichotomy furthers the ineffability of both death and the god force symbolized by Solaris.

Chris chooses to remain on the doomed station rather than face further life without Rheya on earth. He has no way of knowing what the outcome will be and most likely believes that he will simply die. His "redemption" is therefore not based upon faith, but rather upon the love emotion. Emotion in this case takes the place of faith in redemptive force. Furthermore, his "afterlife" entails life with his love rather than a religious god force. As such, Chris's love comes to symbolize the deepest force of contemporary humanity. Love redeems humanity from its sinful coldness and cruelty towards each other. It redeems Chris from his unforgiving and inexcusable reactions that led to Rheya's death. Furthermore, both Chris and Rheya receive a second life in their essence as beings created from their own memories. Some may argue that this is no life at all; that they are merely ghosts of their former selves. This is true, but the counter-argument might also hold: Rheya was physically dead, and Chris was emotionally so. In their afterlife, they survive on much better terms than they would have had Chris made the choice for physical life. They are happy and surrounded by their love.

3) the film therefore appears to elevate love to the level formerly occupied by religious faith. The actions and emotions behind Chris's love is what ultimately redeems both himself and Rheya. There are no scriptures or formal leaders to help Chris come to his conclusions. The foundations of his afterlife only becomes clear once he reaches the final stages of his development. He makes a choice for love, but does so blindly. In religious faith, on the other hand, the concept of the afterlife and how to attain it are spelled out quite clearly by both scriptures and learned leaders. Indeed, there are dire warnings for those who choose to turn away from the faith recommended. Heaven is also drawn quite clearly in terms of golden streets, harp-wielding angels, or virgins, according to the respective faith involved. Chris does not have this luxury.