Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)   CLICK HERE to buy from Blu-ray Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

The future: All vegetation has long been extinct on earth and humankind has created a 100% artificial enviroment for itself with strictly regulated weather and temperature and synthetic food. A spaceship called the Valley Forge was sent into space as a sort of Noah's Ark, preserving the last forests and all sorts of plant life in domes - pretty much just in case. But not humankind has found it too unnecessary and expensive to keep nature even in space, and the ships are ordered to blow up their nature domes and return to earth - and crewmen Keenan (Cliff Potts), Barker (Ron Rifkin) and Wolf (Jesse Vint) couldn't be happier to finally return to earth, while fellow crewman Lowell (Bruce Dern), who has been on the Valley Forge for uninterrupted 8 years, feels shattered, as he was the only one really taking care of the plantlife in the domes and has dreamed of one day returning to re-naturize the planet. And when he sees the others happily blowing up one dome after the next, he gets into a fight with Wolf, killing him in the process, then abandons Keenan and Barker in a dome already doomed for destruction. To ground control he reports some unforseen problems with the order to blow up the domes and return, then hides in the rings of Saturn to make it impossible to be hauled back and thus preserve the little nature that's left. With only two small robots, the drones, for company, he experiences peace and fulfillment, even if he can't completely shake the guilt of killing his crewmates - guilt that's also mirrored in his plants starting to wilt (for lack of sunlight, it turns out). And then ground control picks up the Valley Forge's signal again, and they're only too happy to bring Lowell back home - without his last shred of nature - which is really the last thing he wants, but what to do?

It's funny that with its enviromentalist message, Silent Running is at the same time very much a child of the hippie era, and a film that feels as topical now, in a world where enviromentalism has inexplicably become a bone of contention, as almost 50 years ago, and frankly, this film dares to be much more of a political allegory than most of today's mainstream science fiction. And besides this contradiction in terms, this film has actually aged remarkably well, thanks to great sets and wonderful effects work, its very intelligent approach to the subject at hand, and its deliberately slow pace that gives the film's underlying ambiguity space to breathe. And the always dependable Bruce Dern sure gives a great performance in this one. And all of this makes Silent Running a film that deserves to be called a classic.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Silent Running at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Silent Running here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai Something naughty? (Must be over 18 to go there!)   find Silent Running at adultvideouniverse.com

Thanks for watching !!!