Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1436 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-11-03
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
After creating many of the innovative special effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull tried his hand at directing, and 1971's Silent Running marked an impressive debut. (In addition to creating the visual effects for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and directing 1983's Brainstorm, Trumbull later turned to the creation of high-tech cinematic amusement park rides.) One of the best science-fiction films of the 1970s, Silent Running stars Bruce Dern as Freeman Lowell, a nature-loving crewmember aboard the Valley Forge, a gigantic spaceship in a small fleet that carries the last surviving forests of the Earth, which has fallen victim to overpopulation and ecological neglect.

Freeman's name reflects his nonconformist philosophy, which runs counter to the prevailing recklessness of his three ill-fated crewmates, who are eager to jettison their precious payload and return to the bleakness of Earth. Before they can sabotage the forests, Freeman does what he must, and spends the remainder of his mission with three robotic "drones" as his only companions, struggling to maintain his sanity in the vastness of space. Dern is superb in this memorable role, representing the lost soul of humankind as well as the back-to-nature youth movement of the 1960s and the pre-Watergate era. (Appropriately, Joan Baez sings the film's theme song.) A rare science-fiction film that combines bold adventure with passionate social conscience, Silent Running will remain relevant as long as the Earth is threatened by the ravages of human carelessness. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
In a grim future, Earth is so overdeveloped plants can no longer survive. Giant greenhouses in orbit carry samples of Earth's dying forests. When the government decides they are too expensive to maintain, one committed crew member will stop at nothing to save them. Screenplay by Steven Bochco and Michael Cimino. Music by Peter 'PDQ Bach' Schickele.

Customer Reviews

Charming, naive, thought provoking and poignant
These are just some of the words you can use to describe this wonderful film. Although it's now thirty years since original release it is anachronistic neither in terms of story nor special effects, and one could argue even more relevant three decades later with America's reluctance to sign the Kyoto Treaty.
For ME it has all the hallmarks of what great art SHOULD contain; a relevance to one's life and the abilty to challenge psychologically and philosophically on a number of levels. Indeed lasting eighty minutes and with only one speaking protagonist for eighty percent of it's duration, much is left implicit for the viewer to interpret. The plot of the film is simple. Cut forward to a time in the future when overpopulation and pollution of the environment has forced the last remaining forests to be moved into outer space on craft orbiting Saturn, until such time that earth is ready to replant. The craft are inhabited by four men, three of which exemplify the socially ordered and homogenous population back on earth, the other Freeman Lowell (played to perfection by Bruce Dern) being more cerebral and less bovine. After eight years they receive an order to destroy the forests and return the craft to commercial service. To save one of these forests Lowell has to murder the other three crewmembers and resign himself to a life of enforced exile without human company. Alone in space, save for two robots for company, Lowell has ample time to reflect on his actions in a way similar to Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment". It is also gives an insight into the psychology of isolation and alienation. The answer being for me that some HUMAN contact (even though the robots have more character and humanity than Lowell's previous crewmates), even of the lowest common denominator is necessary for mental 'health'. This is reflected in the sad ending. The DVD version of the film offers nothing more than the tape version other than a dodgy trailer for the film pre-release circa 1972 and language choice. As a footnote look out for an early example of brand/product placing! Enjoy!

Compulsory viewing
30 years on, this movie is still powerful and poignant. The environmental message is just as important today as it was in the 70's.

You won't see aliens zooming around and firing lasers at each other, and the only explosions are disturbing images as the very last forests are destroyed forever. This is an emotional film, which goes far deeper than most SF either before or since. The story is about people, not flashy special effects, and must surely be considered a classic.

I cannot imagine any sensible viewer coming away from this movie without pausing to consider its deeper message, which is still highly relevant today.

Worthy but inconceivable
A fleet of space ships carrying the precious cargo of Earth's plant biodiversity has been sent into space because humans have caused some sort of ecological catastrophe and no vegetation will grow there any more. At the point when the ships are somewhere in the vicinity of Saturn, they receive an order from Earth, not just to abandon the biological cargo stored in the 3 geodesic domes per ship, but to jettison and then nuke the domes and then return home. It's not clear why they had to be sent so far from Earth, why the plants couldn't have been housed in geodesic domes on Earth (since humanity is still apparently able to live there), why it was necessary to blow the domes up in addition to abandoning them or how it was possible for human life to continue on Earth in the absence of any vegetation. The crews of the ships are all eager to follow the orders and return. All except for Lowell, who is the only person in the entire crew with any sense of mission. He cares about everything but himself. The rest of the crew care about nothing but themselves. He's obviously going to have to do something drastic if any of Earth's riches are to survive. It's not at all clear how the whole crew of this space armada (apart from Lowell) could have been recruited to do a really important job that none of them care in the slightest about. Even though none of this made any sense to me whatsoever, I was still drawn in. I identified with Lowell, knew what he would have to do long before the insane order to destroy the cargo was received, shared his hopes and sorrows. Daft really. The little drones: 1, 2 and 3 he named Huey, Dewey and Lewey, even though Lewey had already been lost in space before the naming. I tired to work out why these little fellas were so endearing. They didn't even speak. They moved a bit like human toddlers. The thing was, Lowell cared about them, sympathised with them, treated them as people. Everything mattered to him. Whereas he cared about the plants and animals in his forest dome, jungle dome and desert dome, the other crew didn't care about any of it.

There's an emphatic message in the film. The scenario painted by the film is pretty incoherent but the exaggerated mindlessness of all the crew except for the one rational individual, shouted the message loud and clear so the nonsensical situation couldn't drown it out: "Some things, like our ecological environment, are vitally important and too many of us are too self-obsessed to see or care what is happening or indeed do anything to ensure that the worst doesn't happen. One person alone can't save the world in opposition to an uncaring society. It takes planning, co-operation and commitment to preserve and heal a damaged environment." Well, that's what it said to me anyway. I would have enjoyed it more if the actual story had made more sense though.