Released in 1973, Soylent Green is a sci-fi/thriller starring
Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson. The film takes place
in the year 2022; it’s a dystopian future where the world is suffering from
pollution, year-round summer, depleting resources, and a whole slew of other
problems. The movie is apparently based on the 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, but I’ve never read it so I won’t compare the two.
It’s established
pretty early on in the film that the majority of the population is homeless,
out of work, and because food is so scarce the common folk have to eat this
food called ’Soylent Green’ which is apparently made from plankton. Only the
rich elites can afford real fruit, vegetables, and meat.
When a wealthy
businessman named William Simonson is murdered, New York City detective
Frank Thorn (played by Heston), is sent in to investigate. Thorn checks out the
crime scene, questions Simonson’s bodyguard and a woman named Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), he takes
some of the luxury items like steak and bourbon and also a book titled ‘Soylent
Oceanographic Survey Report’.
Later Thorn gives the
book to his friend and police analyst Sol Roth (played by Edward G. Robinson) to do some research. Roth soon
discovers that Simonson and the state governor, Joseph Santini, were partners
in a law firm, and that Simonson was also a member of the board of the Soylent Corporation.
This only further leads Thorn to suspect that the murder wasn’t a burglary gone
wrong, but rather an assassination. There are a few twists and turns but, it’s
a pretty run-of-the-mill, police thriller until about the last 20 mins.
After further
research, Roth decides to go to a clinic for an assisted suicide because he can’t
live with the knowledge of his findings. Thorn rushes to stop him, but arrives
too late. However, just before dying, Roth tells Thorn to expose the truth. So,
Thorn hides aboard a garbage truck headed to a body disposal center, where he
sees human corpses are being converted into Soylent Green. This eventually
leads to the iconic final line when Heston yells out "Soylent Green is
people!”
Overall, it’s decent and
there are some interesting ideas in the film, but I wouldn’t call it a ‘must-see’
film. I give this one a 2.5 out of 5.
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