SILENT RUNNING can be hard to assess. On one level, it fails completely, but on a different level, it works beautifully.
On the level of science fiction extrapolation, SILENT RUNNING makes no sense at all. Once you begin to look at its concepts and at certain aspects of its plot, the doubts arise, and question follows question. (I will ask a few at the end of this post, after a spoiler warning).
Beyond the level of extrapolation, however, as an illustration or parable of our inability to love the world on its own terms, or to recognize what we need in life before we toss it away, SILENT RUNNING hits hard. Along with Tarkovsky's adaptation of SOLARIS, it might be the most heart-breaking of all science fiction films.
Over the decades, much has been written about this; I have little to add, beyond noting that Bruce Dern's performance turns a character who is both crazy and untrustworthy into someone with emotional depth. As the film goes on, his character begins to show layers of remorse and humanity; isolated, losing his mind, he becomes more of a person, which makes his final decision all the more painful. I might not like this character, but I certainly feel for him, and his ending never fails to make me cry.
Sadness, regret, loss, and hope are aspects of life that I wish more science fiction films were able to confront. SILENT RUNNING has the courage to be beautifully tragic, and this makes it unforgettable.
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WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
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I expect science fiction to unroll with a certain logic: one idea should develop from another, and the implications of this development should make sense.
SILENT RUNNING, however, builds on a foundation of sliding sand. It fails to cohere, and so you might find yourself asking questions.
How can the human species live without a biosphere? Why are the last ecosystems of Earth isolated in space? Why are they set far out in space, in the orbit of Saturn? Why, when they are self-sufficient, must they be destroyed? Why would a trained astronaut with advance warning of a dangerous impact at a definite date and time not prepare himself and his vessel to meet that impact? Why would a trained biologist not recognize that plants need certain conditions to survive?
Foundations of sand. The miracle of SILENT RUNNING is that, somehow, it can build on a slippery base; it can grow towards meaning and emotional power, and it can hurt.
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