The Orion Loop - Soviet science fiction film (1981)

As part of my exploration of Soviet (and Eastern Bloc) cinema, and more specifically science fiction from those territories, I recently watched The Orion Loop, a 1981 Soviet science fiction movie.

Like many science fiction films from the USSR, The Orion Loop deals with the question of extra-terrestrial life and the potential for its contact with Earth and humans. The plot centres on Earth's efforts to investigation a strong radiation source which has been affecting other spaceships on the edge of the Solar System. The ship which is dispatched on this mission is crewed by a mixture of people and their android 'doubles'. Crew members receive 'visitations' from holograms, which seem to be emissaries from an ancient alien civilization. Some of this activity turns out to be connected to a 'galactic virus' which might affect Earth.

In common with many science fiction works generally (and not just the ones produced in the Communist world), this picture examines some Big Subjects, such as man's attitudes to science, reason, and progress.  International solidarity and co-operation are also shown in a positive light. However, the story (the screenplay was co-written by the famous cosmonaut Alexei Leonov) is quite multi-layered.

One of the central themes of The Orion Loop is how humanity should engage with aliens, and how we should give them a chance and regard their intentions as benign, benevolent and constructive. If we give harmony and conciliation a chance to develop, positive consequences may well ensue. Of course, we may infer that these topics were being employed, at least in part, as a metaphor for how the different peoples of Earth should relate to each other.

Part of the sub-text is that we often mis-read or misunderstand what genuinely threatens our well-being or security, suggesting that we devote excessive resources to tackling 'imagined' threats, when something less obvious or less immediately emotive represents a much more insidious danger. We should stop and ask ourselves what is the real reason behind phenomena which we think are inherently hostile, and we should trust people and Nature more. I interpreted the holograms as being a reference to the desirability of learning from history.

That the crew members of the Soviet spaceship have android doubles allows some exploration of 'humans versus machines' issues, with the insinuation that in certain circumstances human creativity and problem-solving and decision-making capabilities would win out. On the whole, however, I don't think that the film makes as much use of the androids as it could have done. The holograms are very well done, though.

It is interesting that the cybernetician is to some extent cast as the villain, and the irrational one. Perhaps the message is that Mankind's fate is in its own hands?

This one is similar in format and style to other sci-fi movies from the USSR, but this is the early 1980s, so it is more polished technically and contemporary looking, although the special effects and production values are nothing exceptional for the period. 

Maybe I am being my usual over-analytical self, but the 'internationalism' angle of these films intrigues me. Here, as elsewhere, it seems to me that the Soviet Union is portrayed as taking the lead and the initiative for the benefit and welfare of mankind.

In a broader sense the film is observing that there are things about the human mind, and the universe, which we still do not fully understand. We must keep working, methodically and rationally, to unlock and harness the universe's secrets.

I would say that The Orion Loop is a movie which is both enjoyable and cerebral.