Film Snail

Silent Running
Silent Running

6.4

Silent Running

G·1972·89m

Summary

After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.

Crew

Director

Douglas Trumbull

Screenplay

Deric Washburn

Screenplay

Michael Cimino

Screenplay

Steven Bochco

Reviews

DanDare

DanDare

June 16, 2017

5

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it heads off to Saturn.

Lowell has become attached to the eco-system in the spaceship and less with his crew mates who he kills when they receive orders to destroy the plant life.

On his own, alienated, staving off madness, all Lowell has are three droids for company and then his plants start to die as they get less sunlight as the craft nears Saturn.

Douglas Trumbull in some ways has directed a low fi science fiction film, in some ways the interior sets reminded me of a television series from the early 1970s. It also contains some folk songs to accompany its environmental message.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$1,000,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

dystopia
sunlight
space travel
saturn
biotope
plant
greenhouse
forest
space
food
robot
space station
enviromentalism
biosphere