Review of Silent Running (1972) by Dmm C — 10 Apr 2012

The film tells of botanist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern), an astronaut who has spent eight years aboard the Valley Forge space freighter along with three other male astronauts. Lowell's task has been to preserve and help flourish the remnants of the only botanical specimens taken from Earth; maintained under huge geodesic domes carried by the Forge.

Lowell is convinced that Earth will embrace his experiments upon the crew's return, convincing the rest of the crew that his fellow humans will be quick in their attempts to re-foliate the Earth. However, Lowell is dismayed when he is ordered by Ground Control to abandon the mission and destroy the pods containing the botanical specimens, and this sparks an inner-rage in which Lowell takes matter in his own hands in order to save a fundamental part of Earth's nature.