SILENT RUNNING
US, 1971, 82 minutes, Colour.
Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts.
Directed by Douglas Trumbull.
Silent Running is only a short science-fiction feature and does not compare in scope with the more lavish films of the 60's and 70's. However, on its own level, it is a fine film and received good critical attention. Director Douglas Trumbull worked on some of the effects in Stanley Kubrick's - 2001: A Space Odyssey. There are obvious similarities, Trumbull offering as much visual beauty on a small screen. The subject is ecological, the preservation of vegetation and forests in space when they have been destroyed on earth by so-called progress. The effect on mankind, according to the film, is that his mind and attitudes become as barren as his planet. The film raises moral issues of decision and the value of human life compared with the preservation of the planet's vegetation. The film is not particularly optimistic.
Bruce Dern, an excellent supporting player from such films as - Support Your Local Sheriff; Number One; The Cowboys; Drive, He Said; The King of Marvin Gardens; features in the principal role here of the idealist whose life is devoted to his forests. Good science-fiction for all audiences.
1. What did the title mean?
2. What was the basic message of this film? Was it optimistic or pessimistic about mankind's future? Why?
3. What kind of future world was this where forests and vegetation had disappeared from the earth, and were preserved only in space-ships? Did you think this was horrifying or necessary for progress and commercial advancement?
4. Why had Freeman Lowell spent eight years preserving his forests? How dedicated or obsessed was he? Was his vision shared by the space technicians?
5. How did Lowell best illustrate his devotion to his work? In what way did the others show their dislike of being in space? How well did they relate with Lowell?
6. How beautiful was the presentation of this whole space ensemble? Did the music, songs and words add to the beauty and significance? How?
7. Were you shocked at the order to destroy the vegetation and forests? Did Lowell have the right to disobey the order for destruction? Why?
8. Why did Lowell's companions have no compunction in destroying the forests and vegetation? Why didn't they share Lowell's vision?
9. Did Lowell have any right to kill his companions? Did he do this because he was aware of the necessity of vegetation for humanity, or because he did not wish to have his life's work destroyed? Comment on his space isolation?
10. The Drones - did the programming of these computer-robots make the Drones' work plausible? Did this make scientific progress worthwhile?
11. Were you sorry when he made contact with the American space-ships? Why?
12. Did Lowell have any option except to destroy himself and leave the forests to hopefully roam space until earth was ready for them?
13. What was your reaction at the moment of the final explosion? Why?
14. What significance did this science-fiction parable have? How pessimistic was it? What was the significance of Lowell as a space-age Adam in his garden?
15. How impressive were the scientific effects, the beauty and the photography? Do these counteract some of the pessimism of the film?
