Soylent Green

Some reviews call this film an antipollution PSA gone berserk, but I think it is kind of awesome, especially considering that pollution has turned out to be quite a problem today.  Also making Soylent Green amazing is the fact that Charlton Heston is in the film and even if you didn’t like his politics, he is a commanding presence on the screen.   Not to mention that one of my all time favorite actors, Edward G. Robinson (in his last role!), is also in the film.

The story centers on the year 2022 (which is super soon) and an Earth that isn’t doing do well. All natural foods are extinct, the planet is overpopulated and people are starving.  People live off a food source called Soylent Green and when a high ranking Soylent official is killed, Heston’s Detective Thorn is sent in to investigate and finds more than he bargained for.

Interestingly enough many of the reviews/reviewers found fault with the film because they don’t think it was a very realistic depiction of the future.  And while I don’t necessarily think we will be “eating Soylent Green” in 13 years, I do think that we could very easily be heading in that direction if we don’t do something about the environment and our food sources.   Also, there is something to said for excessively  dramatizing something to prove a point and I think Soylent Green does this incredibly well.

Watch this film to see how it pushed the envelope and then takepart with We Can Solve It to help avoid the future of Soylent Green.

Soylent Green was not nominated for and did not win an Academy Award®