Thought Provoking, Well Acted, Great Special Effects and Music

The 1972 American science fiction film Silent Running envisions an unspecified year in the future in which plant and animal life has been obliterated from Earth. Freeman Lowell, played by Bruce Dern, is one of four crewmen on a number of large cargo spaceships entrusted with the last specimens in existence of plants, small mammals, reptiles, and other creatures, kept in large domes representing different environments such as forest and desert. Lowell was with the program from the beginning and considers himself the most qualified person to possibly be a parks manager if Earth is ever replanted.

His three companions are heedless and careless, running miniature race cars through Lowell’s flower garden and making cruel remarks when he eats real food instead of processed artificial fare. When the devastating announcement comes from Earth that the experiment is over, the domes are not cost effective and must all be destroyed with nuclear devices they have somehow brought along, the other three are delighted that they can return to Earth. At least one man seems to be married as evidenced by a wedding ring. They go casually and almost gleefully to destroy the domes. When Lowell protests, they say they don’t have any choice.

Lowell struggles with one man who seriously injures his leg with a shovel before Lowell kills him with the shovel. By then the others have jettisoned and destroyed four of the ship’s six domes. Lowell traps the remaining two crew members in the fifth dome, jettisons it, and deploys the nuke to vaporize it, leaving him alone on the ship with only a few robot drones as company, who he enlists to repair his leg. He is left with his favorite dome, a forest garden.

This state of affairs leaves Bruce Dern to carry most of the remaining film as the only human cast member. This is made even more difficult because the character is now a murderer but must still invite audience identification and possibly some extent of sympathy. Dern rises to this challenge wonderfully. In a moment rare in cinema history or television either for that matter, he expresses remorse for killing his companions of years. The only other movie I can name offhand in which the main character expressed remorse for killing was the Disney Kidnapped from 1960 and that was a stranger killed in battle. I can’t immediately come up with any examples from TV. Even in shows where the hero does the killing, sometimes remorse is shown through a facial expression but not often discussed.

Lowell’s words, delivered with tears in his eyes, are, “Wolf and Barker and Keenan...they weren't exactly my friends, but I did like them. And, er...well...I don't...I don't think that I'll ever be able to...excuse what it is that I did, but I had to do it. And…” (Sighs.) “I guess that's all that I have to say.” The film explores his resulting loneliness and how he deals with it by befriending the drones.

The special effects in this film are great. Though not quite up to 2001: A Space Odyssey, they beat the heck out of Star Trek. The plot is also straightforward and the action fairly well paced, unlike the unbearably long, slow, incomprehensible 2001. The robot drones seem to have human personalities and emotions. They are operated by four amputees able to fit inside the small costumes.

Perhaps strangely, this film was rated G for general audiences, all ages admitted, despite violence, killings, and content which makes it one of the saddest films ever. Possibly it was considered that kids had seen as bad and worse on TV already or that the film’s message would be good for them.

It only partially works as Science Fiction. The focus is all white, all male, all American, both in the crew of the ship which is even named the Valley Forge, and in ground control and the crew of other ships, which are only heard through voice communication. Although Earth is a wasteland, apparently no countries other than America either elected to save their environments or could afford to send what was left into outer space, although the ships are labeled American Airlines and not NASA. Lowell, the supposed expert, takes his ship far into space and then can’t figure out why his forest is dying when deprived of sunlight. It is somewhat explained how people eat without plant and animal life but not how they obtain oxygen.

The film, which does work well as allegory, accompanied by beautiful songs sung by my favorite singer Joan Baez, is thought provoking on many levels including stewardship of the environment and whether killing one’s fellow humans is ever justified. It made a very deep impact on me as a child over fifty years ago and I never saw it again until last night. Kids should probably see it but do be prepared for some tears at the end.