Tracing the thread…
Modern Times (1936) satirizes industrial dehumanization and human obsolescence in the machine age.
Scott Waugh United KingdomBlade Runner (1982) explores what makes humanity valuable when artificial beings replicate human capabilities.
Andrei Tarkovsky Soviet UnionStalker (1979) and Solaris (1972) examine humanity's struggle for meaning when confronted with the unknowable and potentially superior forces.