Movie Review: 'Spaceship Earth' Rethinking the Legacy of the BioSphere

Wow! I can't believe I completely forgot that BioSphere was a thing. As a student of history and culture it is unthinkable that I could have forgotten about this unique and strange bit of history. As a fan of reference humor I certainly should have stowed this memory away to drawn upon it for comic reference but no, until I saw the documentary, Spaceship Earth, I had completely lost the memory of BioSphere.

The BioSphere was the brainchild of a hippy collective led by a man who has been called a cult leader. John Allen cultivated a family of artists from dozens of different disciplines and became a father figure. His idea was to form a collective that could live sustainably and work on ways to make the world a better place.

It began, quite humbly with an experimental theater group in late 60's San Francisco. When that scene started to be co opted by the mainstream, Allen led his theater troupe to New Mexico where they successfully launched a sustainable commune that didn't shun the outside world but was not wholly dependent upon it.

Not one to put down roots however, John soon sought new challenges and with his exceedingly bright group, he decided they should build a boat and sail around the world. So they did, they built a boat, a successful one and sailed around the world. While doing so, they started businesses and made money that would pay for their continued globetrotting.

Here's where things begin to take a turn. The money to fund these projects conceived by the collective under John Allen was always a curiosity until it was revealed that the air to a Texas oil fortune was funding much of the group's activities as they traveled the globe. Yes, they started several successful businesses, but it was the billionaire who bankrolled everything.

That's the back story that finally builds to the creation of BioSphere 2. Why BioSphere 2? Because the Earth is BioSphere 1. The idea was to create a fully functioning ecosystem completely cut off from outside amenities. It would be like a spaceship on Earth. The goal was to prepare mankind to colonize other planets by creating sustainable life in an enclosed environment that could be portable.

What John Allen and his team called a scientific experiment however, soon became a spectacle, and in the minds of many, a debacle. But was the BioSphere 2 project truly a failure? That's the question that provides the heart of the documentary Spaceship Earth. Once you strip away the hype, the talking heads and the junk scientists, what is the real legacy of the BioSphere?

The ambition of Biosphere 2 is inspiring. John Allen's way of moving from one success to the next while working to make the world a better place along the way is also inspiring. While some called him a cult leader, Allen comes off more as a good natured hippie guru who, instead of completely selling out his values as the 60's faded away, simply developed common sense while working toward the innovation of genuine sustainability.

Obviously, Allen wasn't alone, the people who were part of his remarkable coterie or artists and adventurers are too numerous to mention. The point is, that the true story of Biosphere 2 is the ways in which the true innovators, those colorful outsiders and free thinkers are often treated as quacks and loons because they're vision doesn't fit a bite size narrative.

The real reason that the Biosphere 2 team aren't remembered as the pioneers they truly are is summed up in the inclusion of a well known villain that enters the story of Spaceship Earth in the final act. Did you know Steve Bannon was the man who ended up in charge of Biosphere 2? Yes, President Trump's former hatchet man and media strategist took over the Biosphere project after a falling out between John Allen and the financier of the project.

As the movie comes to a close it's clear that there is strong evidence that Bannon sought to frame Biosphere as a failure. That was in part because the science didn't fit with his political narrative of covering the backsides of corporate polluters but also, there was more money to be made in turning Biosphere into a roadside attraction than there was in continuing to develop the sustainable ideas it cultivated.

Spaceship Earth closes on a notion of bittersweet resignation. The remaining biosphere scientists and contributors lament the end of the project, the ways in which their own egos affected that end and especially how eventually, they did begin to make strides in the world of sustainability and had it snatched away from them at the last minute but false media narratives and the greedy desires of corporate puppets.

Spaceship Earth is a wonderfully enlightening bit of off-beat history. The documentary brings light back to a subject that dimmed years ago and reminds us of those wonderful oddballs who ask unusual questions and explore the world seeking unusual answers. There is a reason the research of Biosphere 2 was confiscated and destroyed and a reason why a narrative of failure was created to cover that fact up.

All of that creates a terrific and well told story in Spaceship Earth. Spaceship Earth will be available for streaming rental on Friday, May 8th, 2020.