So I watched Solarbabies again last week. It's been a while, and I'm glad I rewatched it. It is one of those eighties movies that is unmistakably dated. Seems like most Jami Gertz movies are, Lost boys, this one, Less than Zero. Like a trilogy of eighties movies that can be pointed to and said "aha! that's what they really thought of themselves, and also why it is so ridiculous now!"
It's a messed up mash up of Dune, Road Warrior, Xanadu, Beastmaster, E.T., and Rollerball. In the future, water is scarce, society has crumbled, the bombs have dropped. Orphans are raised in prison like fortresses in the middle of deserts. For entertainment, they play this game of roller skate lacrosse or just skate around in a circle during free skate while propaganda done in an MTV style plays on big screens.
It's got a flimsy plot, which I wasn't as interested in as what they do with civilization in the wastes. The meat and potatoes of this post nuclear mess.
You got a tribe of gypsy/amerinds called the Chicani (I think) who live in a nomadic tent carnival style place, complete with a mystic who lives in a giant plaster demon head which contains a complete wax museum. They all wear ponytails on the sides of their mulleted heads.
There is a town called Tire Town, surrounded by cars set up like standing stones, and built around a giant tire melting factory. The guards all wear armor made of tires like Wesley Snipes in Demolition man.
There is a group of rebels called the Eco Warriors, who fought the government a generation or so ago, they run around dressed like dervishes, with a lot of white and pastels. They also found a way to live in a paradise down in a cave with an almost intact glacier. Under the desert.
The "Man" or whatever has taken the nearest body of water and built a big shell around it, so they can control it. At the end the solar babies blow it up. The person in charge of this giant water management facility is the broad who played Evil Lynn in her best nazi scientist style. She even has a robot built to torture, and cut down gemstones.
An enjoyable mess, worth the time
