Soylent Green
Soylent Green is a 1973 American ecological dystopian thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson in his final film role. It is loosely based on the 1966 science-fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, with a plot that combines elements of science fiction and a police procedural. The story follows a murder investigation in a dystopian future of dying oceans and year-round humidity caused by the greenhouse effect, with the resulting pollution, depleted resources, poverty, and overpopulation. In 1973, it won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.
Plot
By 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation and pollution have caused ecocide, leading to severe worldwide shortages of food, water, and housing. New York City has a population of 40 million, and only the elite can afford spacious apartments, clean water, and natural food. The homes of the elite are fortified, with security systems and bodyguards for their tenants. Usually, they include concubines (who are referred to—and used as—"furniture"). The poor live in squalor, haul water from communal spigots, and eat highly processed wafers: Soylent Red, Soylent Yellow, and the latest product, far more flavorful and nutritious, Soylent Green.
Awards
More details
| author | Harry Harrison Stanley R. Greenberg |
|---|---|
| award | Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film |
| contentLocation | New York City |
| director | Richard Fleischer |
| editor | Samuel E. Beetley |
| genre | drama science fiction thriller |
| keywords | ambush assisted suicide attack church college professor concubinage concubine crush ecocide elite food house human overpopulation kill murder nypd overpopulation pollution security system shout strike water wound |
| musicBy | Fred Myrow |
| producer | Russell Thacher Walter Seltzer |
| publisher | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| theme | climate change dystopian neo-noir police procedural science fiction thriller the future |