"Soylent Green is people!!!" a review of Soylent Green

"Soylent Green is people!!!" a review of Soylent Green

The 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green takes place in a bleak future where man's abuse of the planet has reached critical mass. Greenhouse emissions have turned the atmosphere into a swamp; 50 million people carpet the streets and sidewalks of New York. Against this backdrop, a New York detective named Frank Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of a public official that leads him to a processing plant that makes a food product called Soylent Green. 

Soylent Green is 1 of those films that has aged well thanks to the masterful direction of Richard Fleischer and its 2 stars, Charlton Heston and the great Edward G. Robinson in his final role as Thorn's wistful roommate Sol Roth who can remember the good ol' days when you could buy real meat, real fruits and vegetables, and real butter. Mr. Robinson plays 2nd to Heston in this film, but his performance is the lightning rod through which I could identify with the story emotionally. Definitely, his best performance. 

As for Charlton, his penchant for playing the reluctant champion of the people continues in this film. Politics aside, there's no denying the fact that Heston had the 'it' factor that put him in the elite class of Hollywood actors. In his role as detective Frank Thorn, you get an everyman skimming where he can here and there who, despite his flaws, is mixed up in a mystery where he ends up defending the people. Sounds a lot like Moses in The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur, right? Except that there's no happy ending in this film.

Because of the commentary it makes on urban overcrowding, Soylent Green is in my top 5 of the greatest science fiction films ever, right up there with the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. The film won the Nebula Award for Best Drama and The Saturn Award for best science fiction film. The stirring opening montage showing America evolving from its pastoral and dignified beginnings to today's urban, overcrowded, poisoned industrial dystopia is up there with the The Road Warrior opening. Terrific film and a revelation for those who've yet to discover it. This should definitely be in the Criterion collection.