''Spaceship Earth'' is a 2020 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Matt Wolf about the 1991 experiment that saw eight individuals spend two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth's ecosystem, dubbed

Biosphere 2 Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the univers ...

. The film premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 26, 2020, and was released in the United States on May 8, 2020, by

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

Premise

Using archived footage and present-day interviews, the film follows the large dome that featured a replica of earth's ecosystem called

, constructed in the

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

desert. Trying to see if it is possible to establish human existence on other planets, eight "biospherians" go to live inside the

vivarium A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: ''vivaria'' or ''vivariums'') is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they a ...

, where they face ecological issues and accusations of cult-mentalities.

Reception

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads: "''Spaceship Earth'' achieves liftoff as an engaging behind-the-scenes record of an audacious experiment -- and settles into orbit as poignant proof of the power of a shared dream."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

assigned the film an average weighted score of 73 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". John DeFore of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote: "Using both present-tense interviews and footage from the time, Wolf shows how things nearly fell apart. But he also captures the seriousness of purpose behind what some saw as a giant publicity stunt — and convinces us that this was a one-of-a-kind way to learn some of the things humanity will need to know as this world changes and others are considered for habitation." Kate Knibbs, in ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'', wrote that director Matt Wolf's "soft-focus emphasis on the bonhomie of the Synergians" was unexpectedly touching. The review calls the film a credulous portrayal while having an incomplete narrative, omitting incidents of interpersonal drama and gliding over what transpired following the first round of the experiment.

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...

, who took over Biosphere 2 in 1993, only appears in the final 15 minutes of the film despite causing the resignation of the original Biospherians and filing criminal charges against Abigail Alling and Mark Van Thillo after they broke into the enclosure to warn the second group about him.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 11394188
Spaceship Earth
at

2020s English-language films 2020 documentary films