14 Isolation Films You Shouldn't Watch Alone

7. Silent Running (1972)

Out of all the characters who go a little murderously nutty in space Bruce Dern's conservationist astronaut Freeman Lowell is probably the one who it is most easy to identify with. As Botanist on The Valley Forge, a ship that houses geodesic greenhouse domes containing the last specimens of Earth's plant life, Lowell is tended with the task of maintaining the forests. When an order comes in to destroy the domes in order to recommission The Valley Forge back into corporate service, Lowell goes to extreme measures to prevent the corporate overlords selling out the last chance for Earth's reforestation. Although alone in space you get the feeling that Lowell is content with the company of his three drones Huey, Louie and Dewey, and his beloved forest. The sense of isolation is still there for the viewer but Lowell has such a strong sense of purpose that he barely has time to experience it for himself. Silent Running was the directorial debut of effects genius Douglas Trumbull and stands up to this day as one of the great 'alone in space' films.