And the movie in question is.... Silent Running. Never heard of it? Fair enough. This film was made back in the 70s by the guy who did the special effects for 2001:A Space Odessey. Even though it's difficult to tell yourself these slow moving miniatures are really massive space ships (damn CGI ruined my imagination, just like it ruined my ability to... err) it's still really nice to watch because of the amazing attention to detail and the quality of the camera work.
I'll take a step back for a synopsis:
The setting isn't post apocalyptic, at least not in a traditional sense. The Earth is perfectly habitable, some how it's 75 degrees F everywhere, everyone has a job and no one goes hungry (all food is synthetic), there's just no non-human life. The only one that seems to value life and lament the stale, mundanity of the new Earth is Llowell. His crew mates don't care for the forest, they drive over Llowells flowerbeds in quad-bikes, and make fun of him for eating real fruit, which to their mind 'stinks'.
They receive an order to release and blow up all of their forest domes. The other astronauts are happy to oblige as it means they get to go home afterwards. Needless to say, Llowell isn't so keen on the idea. So Llowell ends up killing the others and lying to his superior on one of the other ships as his ship floats towards Saturn's rings.
Llowel re-programmes the robots to look after the forest and to be more interesting company (teaching them to play poker). Ultimately, Llowel has to destroy the ship with him and one robot onboard but before this he releases one of the biodomes into space with the remaining robot as its caretaker. The final image is of this robot caring for the last of the non-human living things on, or at least from, Earth.
Analysis:
Llowel is an odd hero. In some way's he's essentially a psychopath, killing the three other men he has shared his mission with for months so he can save a few plants and animals. But while there may be some people entirely unsympathetic to this course of action, many will relate to his appreciation of life and his desire to care for and experience other life, instead of the monotony that Earth has come to host.
So what elements are merged in this article that I got so excited about? Firstly is the obvious inspiration for Wall-E, to which I was formally ignorant. The final image of Silent Running with the last robot using an old tin watering can to nurture the plants is enough to inspire the whole concept of Wall-E (blog article). Secondly is the newly produced score by 65daysofstatic.
I bloody love this band. As a drummer and a hippy (just politically!) it doesn't really get any better. The music was so popular at a Glasgow Film Festival that they released it as a record, check it ooooooooooout. There’s just one piece to listen to from this link but it’s a good un.
As a post rock/electronica band, they don't have many lyrics so the choice of movie for their first score and their prior videos make their views explicit. Here's links for their other environmental music vids, again!:
I'll take a step back for a synopsis:
In space orbiting Saturn are three space vessels carrying the last remnants of natural Earth habitat. Plants and animals live in Edenesc domes of reinforced glass. We only get to meet the crew of one ship which consists of four men and three endearingly dumpy robots.
The intro focuses on the wildlife in one of the domes before showing the protagonist swimming in what is apparently a rainforest stream. Freeman Llowell is the only one of the four men who seems to have any interest in the mission as something more than just a job. The mission being to look after these biodomes until such a time as the Earth is to be reforested.
The intro focuses on the wildlife in one of the domes before showing the protagonist swimming in what is apparently a rainforest stream. Freeman Llowell is the only one of the four men who seems to have any interest in the mission as something more than just a job. The mission being to look after these biodomes until such a time as the Earth is to be reforested.
The setting isn't post apocalyptic, at least not in a traditional sense. The Earth is perfectly habitable, some how it's 75 degrees F everywhere, everyone has a job and no one goes hungry (all food is synthetic), there's just no non-human life. The only one that seems to value life and lament the stale, mundanity of the new Earth is Llowell. His crew mates don't care for the forest, they drive over Llowells flowerbeds in quad-bikes, and make fun of him for eating real fruit, which to their mind 'stinks'.
They receive an order to release and blow up all of their forest domes. The other astronauts are happy to oblige as it means they get to go home afterwards. Needless to say, Llowell isn't so keen on the idea. So Llowell ends up killing the others and lying to his superior on one of the other ships as his ship floats towards Saturn's rings.
Llowel re-programmes the robots to look after the forest and to be more interesting company (teaching them to play poker). Ultimately, Llowel has to destroy the ship with him and one robot onboard but before this he releases one of the biodomes into space with the remaining robot as its caretaker. The final image is of this robot caring for the last of the non-human living things on, or at least from, Earth.
Analysis:
Llowel is an odd hero. In some way's he's essentially a psychopath, killing the three other men he has shared his mission with for months so he can save a few plants and animals. But while there may be some people entirely unsympathetic to this course of action, many will relate to his appreciation of life and his desire to care for and experience other life, instead of the monotony that Earth has come to host.
So what elements are merged in this article that I got so excited about? Firstly is the obvious inspiration for Wall-E, to which I was formally ignorant. The final image of Silent Running with the last robot using an old tin watering can to nurture the plants is enough to inspire the whole concept of Wall-E (blog article). Secondly is the newly produced score by 65daysofstatic.
I bloody love this band. As a drummer and a hippy (just politically!) it doesn't really get any better. The music was so popular at a Glasgow Film Festival that they released it as a record, check it ooooooooooout. There’s just one piece to listen to from this link but it’s a good un.
As a post rock/electronica band, they don't have many lyrics so the choice of movie for their first score and their prior videos make their views explicit. Here's links for their other environmental music vids, again!:
I shall be taking some of the credit for this post...
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