Movieguide Special Michael Doherty looks at 10 movies that have put green on the screen
While it tends to be the preserve of TV specials, a number of big-screen movies and documentaries have also offered environmental themes. Michael Doherty selects ten that caught his eye
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2007) What’s the story? In a future, deserted Earth, only a waste-collecting, solar-powered little robot named WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Li er - Earth-class) remains to clean up our mess. Since humans have abandoned the planet and now orbit around the Earth in giant leisure ships, WALL-E’S knowledge of human behaviour is con ned to repeated viewings of Hello Dolly! on his VCR. ose old-fashioned romantic notions come to the fore when Earth is visited by a female alien droid called EVE (Extraterrestial Vegetation Evaluator), with whom our recycling hero falls madly in love. Who’s in it? e voices of Je Garlin, Sigourney Weaver and Fred Willard. Quote/ unquote: “Life is sustainable now. Look at this plant; green and growing” Anything else? In order to appreciate how to tell a story with comparatively little dialogue, Andrew Stanton and the Pixar team would spend their lunchtimes watching Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies.
Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull, 1972)
What’s the story? In a future (2008!) where all Earth’s plant life is now extinct, a few specimens of ora have been preserved and are orbiting around Saturn in a eet of giant greenhouses. When the Government decides the entire operation is too expensive to maintain, one crew member is determined to save them and heads o into space to preserve the potential for life in some other place or time. He is aided in his e orts by three cute robots, known as Huey, Louie and Dewey.
Who’s in it? Bruce Dern was cast in the main role a er (apparently) 17 other actors turned it down. Cli Potts and Ron Ri in are among the very few humans in support.
Quote/ unquote: “ere is no more beauty, and there’s no more imagination. And there are no frontiers le to conquer”
Anything else? Debut director Douglas Trumbull, the man famous for creating the special e ects on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), shot the movie in just 32 days. e young writing team on this cult sci- feature, Deric Washburn and Michael Cimino, would go on to write and direct the Oscarwinning Vietnam drama, e Deer Hunter (1976). e third young writer, Steven Bochco, would go on to create Hill Street Blues. e writers of the hit BBC series, Red Dwarf, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, have cited Silent Running as one of their primary in uences.
The Pipe (Risteard Ó Domhnaill, 2010) What’s the story? is award-winning documentary chronicles the small but determined group of people who took on the might of Shell Oil over the issue of a gas pipeline running through their land. In this most dramatic clash of cultures, the rights of farmers over their elds, and of shermen to their shing grounds, came in direct con ict with one of the world’s most powerful oil companies. e documentary begins with the Rossport Five (James Brendan Philbin, Philip Mcgrath, Vincent Mcgrath, Willie Cordu , Micheál Ó Seighin) being jailed for blocking construction of the on-shore gas re nery. Who’s in it? e director spent four years interacting with three members of the Rossport community, in particular: Willie Cordu , one of the Rossport Five; Monica Muller, who took a high pro le court action against the oil company; and local sherman, Pat ‘ e Chief’ O’donnell.
Quote/ unquote: “ey never asked us, at any stage, for permission” Anything else? e Pipe won Best Documentary at e Foyle Film Festival and e Galway Film Fleadh. “I had no idea, four years ago, when I started lming on Corrib,” commented Risteard Ó Domhnaill at the time, “that it would turn out to be such an incredible story and the strength of character of these people would inspire audiences all over the world.”
An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim, 2006)
What’s the story? But for a few dimpled chads in Florida, Senator Al Gore would have become the 44th President of the USA. While Dubya was busy in the Oval O ce, Gore took to the lecture circuit with a multi-media presentation about the perils of global warming. Gore uses a combination of scienti c data and natural footage to alert his audience to the dangers facing the planet – greenhouse gases, melting ice caps, disappearing forests. Who’s in it? e man who introduces himself as: “I’m Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States”
Quote/ unquote: “What we take for granted might not be here for our children”
Anything else? Al Gore had been discouraged from playing the environment card as a candidate, while at the same time being branded by the media as something of a stu ed shirt. Some leading political analysts suggested that had voters seen this documentary, it’s likely that Gore would have taken the White House by a landslide. An Inconvenient Truth was the rst documentary to win two Oscars, for Best Documentary and Best Song. In 2017, Al Gore wrote and presented a follow-up documentary, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which was nominated for a BAFTA that year.
Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
What’s the story? A movie with both a green message and an anti-war agenda, Avatar is set in the year 2154, when an armed US mission travels to Pandora, a planet rich in a precious mineral named unobtanium that Earth desperately needs to survive. Pandora is inhabited peacefully by the Na’vi, a blue-skinned race of slender giants. While the military machine gets ready for battle, one US Marine bonds with the natives and decides to ght back on their behalf.
Who’s in it? James Cameron wanted a relative unknown for the lead role so he cast Jake Worthington as his marine hero. Sigourney Weaver, Zöe Saldana and Giovanni Ribisi are in support.