Build a movie plot around this: The remaining countryside is pristine and well-maintained but can only be used by whom? The wealthy.
The 20th century's industrialization leaves the world overcrowded, polluted and stagnant. In 2022, with 40 million people in New York City alone, housing is dilapidated and overcrowded; homeless people fill the streets; the majority are unemployed, the few "lucky" people with jobs are only barely scraping by, and food and working technology is scarce. Most of the population survives on rations produced by the Soylent Corporation, whose newest product is Soylent Green, a green wafer advertised to contain "high-energy plankton" from the World Ocean, more nutritious and palatable than its predecessors "Red" and "Yellow", but in short supply.New York City Police Department detective Frank Thorn lives with aged friend and "book" (a police analyst) Solomon "Sol" Roth. Roth remembers life before its current miserable state, and often waxes nostalgic. He is also well-educated and uses a small library of reference materials to assist Thorn. Investigating the murder of William R. Simonson, a wealthy businessman, Thorn questions Shirl, a concubine, and Tab Fielding, Simonson's bodyguard, who, when the murder took place, was escorting Shirl. Thorn searches Simonson's apartment for clues and enjoys Simonson's luxurious lifestyle, helping himself to Simonson's bourbon, fresh produce, and a steak Shirl purchased as a surprise for Simonson.Thorn gives Roth the classified Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015 to 2019 he's found in Simonson's apartment. Roth's research reveals Simonson and the current governor of New York, Joseph Santini, were partners in a law firm, and that Simonson was also a member of the board of Soylent.Thorn tells his lieutenant, Hatcher, that he suspects an assassination: nothing had been stolen from the apartment, its sophisticated alarm was not working for the first time in two years, and Simonson's bodyguard was absent. Thorn visits Fielding's apartment and interrogates Fielding's concubine, Martha, helping himself to a teaspoon of strawberry jam, later identified by Roth as too expensive a...