year 5 day 127

movie: Soylent Green
starring: Charlton Heston, Brock Peters
genre: Drama, Sci-fi
year: 1973
format: Hollywood Suites Channel

plot: After investigating a murder, one cop becomes obsessed with the cover up, which leads him to learn that our food supply is not what it seems.

Based on the book Make Room! Make Room!

You would think, that after my last encounter with a Heston film, I would have learned my lesson and passed on this one. But no; I needed to see what all the fuss was about. 

Okay, so here's the thing the actual scene with the introduction of "soylent green" talks about how it's made from plant based product found in/around water. Which, later on we learn there isn't many oceans/lakes left. So that begs to ask how does the world's population not catch on that there is something not right to begin with- with it? 

There is one scene where the "house-wife" is picking up groceries, which contains two apples, a few jars of something unidentifiable, and one very sad stalk of celery. Which costs her $300. And then a mysterious side of roast appears.  This scene is sort of funny and creepy all at the same time. I thought for sure the roast was going to be something more in line with the plot, but if so, it was never admitted to.

I actually found the subplot to be disturbing. The movie itself has no substance to it, but the suggestion that the world is truly becoming like this is what is eerie. The world as we know it, (the movie was set in 2022 a short few years from now) is rapidly moving into a danger zone much like what is seen in the film; over crowded population, polluted environment, lack of natural resources etc. The movie brings up the topic of global warming and the fact water had to be filtered/rationed. There is one scene where the lead character is at the crime scene playing with the bathroom taps just in awe at the fact there is running water. 

what did I learn? It's scary how close we are to a society first written about over 50 years ago.