The Andromeda Strain

I saw this movie on DVD today. Given its content, it's even more apropos in context of current news stories announcing how the U.S. government is going to use laser-guided missles to destroy an errant satellite carrying potentially hazardous material before it can fall to Earth. For a movie made in 1971, it's strangely apropos. It was written by Michael Crichton, who scripted from his own book published in 1969. And there are lots of interesting themes... the friction between scientists and politicians... how do people in positions of power respond in times of crisis?... the ways a government can lie about its true activities... I might also suggest it does a nice job of articulating the need for good scientists and researchers at a time when the U.S. is worried about producing enough scientists, mathematicians, engineers, etc. An exchange from the film that drives a few points home: Dr. Jeremy Stone: According to this there'll be a super-colony of Andromeda over the entire southwest in... Dr. Charles Dutton: Jeremy! These are biological *warfare* maps! Dr. Jeremy Stone: Why, yes... so they are... uh... but... Simulations, Charlie. Defensive... it's just a scenario. Dr. Ruth Leavitt: That's not the POINT for God's sake! Wildfire was built for germ warfare! Wildfire AND Scoop! And you knew, Stone! YOU KNEW IT! Dr. Jeremy Stone: That's not true Ruth! I learned about Scoop the same time you did! Dr. Charles Dutton: They already have Andromeda programmed! The purpose of Scoop was to find new biological weapons in outer space, and then use Wildfire to develop them! Dr. Ruth Leavitt: It STINKS, Stone! Dr. Jeremy Stone: You're blowing your tops! We have no proof... Dr. Charles Dutton: The MAP! Dr. Jeremy Stone: DON'T BE AN ASS! That map only shows what Andromeda *could* do in the hands of an enemy! Dr. Charles Dutton: Enemy??? We did it to OURSELVES! It was so easy to envision that same conversation being played out about Iraq and WMD and why we went to war and why we *reall* might have gone to war. All of that said, production-wise, it's a pretty old-school film. A lot of talking and methodology, and not a whole lot of action, per se. It's a thinking person's film, in every good way we could discuss. It's not the kind of film from which you walk away and say, "I liked it." It's the kind of film that gives you things to think and talk about.