Silent Running

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Douglas Trumbull was a special effects wizard, gaining lasting fame for his work on Kubrick’s 2001, A Space Odyssey. In 1972 when environmentalism was in its infancy and ‘post-apocalyptic’ seemed a newly coined phrase, Trumbull directed Silent Running. It stars Bruce Dern as the chief botanist on a biosphere in orbit of Saturn. All plant life on Earth has been destroyed so biospheres were created to nurture new stock grown from seed banks awaiting the opportunity to be returned to Earth and reforestation. When business decisions condemn the biosphere project, Dern takes the initiative to save his biosphere. At times funny, at times very sad, Silent Running remains a cult classic.