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Silent Running (1972)
One of the very great Sci-Fi films.
Many Directors have been quick to label their own genius with works such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner when, in fact, the genius belongs to their Special Effects Art Director Douglas Trumbull. It can be argued, and many have, that Trumbull is probably the most important figure in modern Sci-Fi, creating the dark world of Blade Runner, the impressive but ultimately sterile Universe in 2001 and the awe-inspiring UFO scenes in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But what many don't know is that Trumbull directed his own Sci-Fi film in 1972 named Silent Running. Given a relatively low budget, in comparison to 2001 and his later work Blade Runner, Trumbull would prove that the best work comes from people who have to make do with what little they have.
Silent Running bequeaths the tale of a future Earth extinct of any plant life, with only a very few specimens having been saved in gargantuan space-bound greenhouses attached to a fleet of "Space Freighters" (the 'American Airline' of its day). These ships stay residing just outside the orbit of Saturn until Earth needs them back to reforest the planet. Bruce Dern, who plays Freeman Lowell, the appointed Head Gardner of the greenhouse-in-space, would rather spend time feeding his bunnies than hang out with his knucklehead crew. Well, unless there is a chance of embarrassing them at a game of Poker. However, when orders come in to nuke the remaining greenhouses and become a commercial airline once again, Lowell decides he would rather see his crew dead than watch the last remaining pieces of nature go into the light.
What's truly amazing about Silent Running is how anti-sci-fi it is. Yes, there are some stunning visuals and it certainly looks to be a sci-fi movie, but ultimately this is a story about human beings. This is not the logic based evolutionary wanderings of 2001, neither does it have the philosophical vitality of Blade Runner or The Matrix. Silent Running is not concerned if the reality we are waking up to is in fact another form of illusion, or pondering about what makes us truly human. No, Silent Running is about a relatively simple person in an unremarkable situation. Lowell's basic choice is do I want human beings to survive, or my garden? He opts for the latter. There are too many human beings, anyway. But as the movie goes on Lowell finds that, although he can only find alienation with his own kind, he can't help but miss them.
In fact, he misses them so much that his robot workers now go by the human names of "Huey, Dewey and Louie". Notice I use the term 'robot' very loosely there. Due to Trumbull's budget what we in fact have are brightly coloured microwaves with rubber-gloved feet. But, my God, are they the most humanised robots ever depicted on screen. On first glance gentle snickering maybe heard from the back of your mind, but as time passes you grow so attached and loving towards these boxes that, when Lowell accidentally runs one over, it's as if your own son has been named road kill. This is such an amazing feature of Directing from Trumbull. Let's face it, anyone can make a robot seem more human when you cast humans as the robots. (Though, I did wonder whether Harrison Ford was in fact the Tin Man in Blade Runner). Trumbull intelligently creates a robot where the audience, as well as Lowell, have to project their own feelings, desires & hopes onto it, refraining from producing a fully formed and packaged robot for the viewer to consume blindly.
But if you want to know why Silent Running truly works, then I'll tell you. It's the first and only sci-fi film that you will make you weep. No, not in the sense of Star Wars where you cry for the dim-witted romanticism, but where you actually break down in tears for the emotion shown on screen. This is not a dry, academic, logical maze that you have to weave yourself through, but a journey which you experience and learn from. Notice, I could have highlighted how Silent Running was ahead of its time due to it's forward-thinking ideas about nature and how we must always try to preserve it, if really only for it's unparallelled beauty. But I didn't. At the end of the day Silent Running is a treatise on the evil that we humans do to the planet. But, ironically, what makes this one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time is that it's not about spectacular visuals or interesting, dry technology, but about being so uniquely human.
The end scene shows Lowell releasing his Garden from the space ship so the incoming Mother Ship cannot find the bodies of the people he has killed, and Lowell says to his friendly robot, in an almost Shakespearian tone, "When I was a kid, I put a note into a bottle, and it had my name and address on it. I threw the bottle into the ocean. I never knew if anyone ever found it." With that Lowell triggers a bomb, sending himself in to the light, whilst the one remaining robot tends the love of his life, his garden, which floats quietly into the netherworlds of space. Will anyone out there ever find it?
Shakalaka Boom Boom (2007)
Shakalaka Boom Boom? More Like Shakalaka Tap Tap
Now, I like the Bollywood films and I'm very glad they have recently gained success in the UK. However, Suneel Darshan's latest effort is a deeply flawed film from start to finish.
The idea of a modern-Bollywood take on Amadeus was quite an exciting one, that is until the two supposed 'musicians' appear on the scene looking as if they have never touched a piece of manuscript in their lives. Upen Patel is a very good looking man, and the film plays to his narcissistic sensibilities, but he is never once believable as a modern Mozart. In terms of acting, all he can do is stand there and pout. His expressions, hair and clothes all look the same throughout, including the scene where he is supposedly 'dying', when in fact he appears to have nothing but a slight sniffle. Bobby Deol, playing the Salieri role, does his best to liven up what little wooden script there is but, alas, just comes across as a little bit angry when he is supposed to be fuming with jealousy.
Bollywood films are widely renowned for their stunning set-pieces and colour schemes, but Shaklaka looks like a drab BBC drama reproduction. In fact, the closest thing Shakalaka comes to is Hollyoaks, as it blatantly hides a really bad script behind beautiful people looking, well, beautiful. "He has yet to reach mediocrity" - the same could be said for the totally forgetful songs.
In short, Darshan's latest offering has no boom, bang, wallop or twang. Instead it merely plods along with its head held low hoping to catch your attention with a soft tap on the shoulder. And that is not good enough at all.