☆☆☆☆½
If you remember Biosphere 2 at all, it's probably because you recall it being a vaguely wacky, questionably scientific science experiment in the Arizona desert in the early 1990s ... or maybe because you saw Bio-Dome starring Pauly Shore way back when. Though it was heralded with a media blitz, Biosphere 2 became an oddity.
Its science was questioned, its motives and ideals became suspect, and eventually – well, there's no way I'd ruin the plot twist that comes more than two-thirds of the way through this marvelous, stirring new documentary.
Biosphere 2 had the vague air of absurdity about it because it was, in fact, absurd. Filmmaker Matt Wolf doesn't try to pretend otherwise. As Spaceship Earth makes entirely clear, it was a radical, liberal, hippy concept created by a radical, liberal, hippy theater troupe led by a charismatic, mercurial man named John Allen. What place does a communal theater troupe have exploring questions of science, humanity and the ways mankind might live in space?
Wolf's film asks that question seriously, and explores the drama, the media frenzy, the personalities and an eleventh-hour plot twist so surprising it made my jaw drop and so ultimately disheartening it makes the film resonate with unexpected power.
As to what place a visionary artist has in dreaming up a possible future, Spaceship Earth does drop a reference to Walt Disney's EPCOT Center – and tantalizes with a wistful truth that it's the crackpot dreamers who have shaped our history ... and who too often, and with devastating consequences, are undone.
NOTE: Spaceship Earth is available on Hulu and other streaming services, but may also be watched by purchasing a "virtual cinema" ticket from many local, independent movie theaters. About half of the cost of the ticket will go directly toward the movie theater.
Viewed May 8, 2020 – Hulu
Its science was questioned, its motives and ideals became suspect, and eventually – well, there's no way I'd ruin the plot twist that comes more than two-thirds of the way through this marvelous, stirring new documentary.
Biosphere 2 had the vague air of absurdity about it because it was, in fact, absurd. Filmmaker Matt Wolf doesn't try to pretend otherwise. As Spaceship Earth makes entirely clear, it was a radical, liberal, hippy concept created by a radical, liberal, hippy theater troupe led by a charismatic, mercurial man named John Allen. What place does a communal theater troupe have exploring questions of science, humanity and the ways mankind might live in space?
Wolf's film asks that question seriously, and explores the drama, the media frenzy, the personalities and an eleventh-hour plot twist so surprising it made my jaw drop and so ultimately disheartening it makes the film resonate with unexpected power.
As to what place a visionary artist has in dreaming up a possible future, Spaceship Earth does drop a reference to Walt Disney's EPCOT Center – and tantalizes with a wistful truth that it's the crackpot dreamers who have shaped our history ... and who too often, and with devastating consequences, are undone.
NOTE: Spaceship Earth is available on Hulu and other streaming services, but may also be watched by purchasing a "virtual cinema" ticket from many local, independent movie theaters. About half of the cost of the ticket will go directly toward the movie theater.
Viewed May 8, 2020 – Hulu
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