Starship Troopers 18

Starship Troopers

Alien bugs, high school romance, fascist iconography, over the top gore and nudity: Starship Troopers gives us all these things and more as it follows the adventures of Johnny Rico and his friends as they play their part in saving humanity from the arachnids. Misunderstood and condemned by many critics on its 1997 release, Paul Verhoeven’s satirical sci-fi epic is now widely recognised as a brilliant and important piece of cinema.

Post screening discussion with Niall Connolly

Starship Troopers is loosely based on Robert Heinlein’s book of the same name, a propagandistic work which articulates an anti-democratic political philosophy. Verhoeven’s stated intention was to satirize elements of contemporary politics and culture.  But the confusion of the critics and continuing debates among the film’s admirers raise questions about the difficulties of liberal democracy and the appeal of militarism and fascism.