“The Hunt for Red October,” based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name, follows Soviet submarine commander Captain Ramius (Sean Connery), who defects to the United States at the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. He takes his crew with him, of course, a whole ship full of men from Russia and Eastern Europe, and they have no idea what will await them in the U.S. When Borodin discusses his future with Ramius, he’s incredulous at the amount of freedom he might have:
“I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck… maybe even a ‘recreational vehicle.’ And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?”
The idea of being able to drive across state lines without permits and papers is completely foreign to him, just like the idea of basic freedoms is alien to Dr. Pershing. As he and Kane walk around the elevated streets of Coruscant, he is hesitant to do much of anything. Kane convinces him to try to touch the mountain peak, for example, reminding him “this isn’t the Empire.” He ends up getting chided by a droid for his attempt at touching the big rock, but it ends up being a charming, silly moment that would have been much different under Imperial rule.
