ZARDOZ- 1974, John Boorman
In this cult favorite from John Boorman (Beyond Rangoon), 23rd century society is split into two castes -- the overly civilized Eternals and the barely civilized Brutals -- one of which is constantly controlling the other. The Brutals worship a huge stone figure known as Zardoz. When Zed (Sean Connery) begins to question the authenticity of this god, the film is able to offer some pointed commentary on class structure and religion.
Ok...before you judge this book by its cover, (or lack thereof) lets go back to a magical time for post apocalyptic movies, the mid 70's...sure the special effects leave you wanting, and sure the movie looks like it was filmed in someones backyard over the weekend but the story holds its own, sorta...the story, though full of plot holes, is an interesting one, in wich a race of immortal humans live in a forcefield bubble, ala the wealthy and elite of today, while the rest of humanity starves and live in a savage world where the red underwear people, or "exterminators" pluck them off one by one whilst heeding the word of Zardoz "the penis is bad, the gun is good." The story is thin and not much about this world is explained, its more of what i would imagine an ancient Greek post-apocalyptic play would be like, the basic moral of this movie is that man needs mortality to be a man, a mortal mind in an immortal body leads to certain insanity (as seen in the "apathetics" within the immortal society) I drew what i could from this movie but if youre watching it for more than a mild intelectualy stimulating plot than you might be dissapointed, Its Sean Connery in red speedos and lots of sweet random boob shots, for fans of post-apocalyptic themed movies...
3 comments:
OMG - This movie was great - I even recommended it to my mom so she could see Sean in all his glory.
I knew Chris and I had picked a winner when the couple in front of us rented the wizard of oz.
This movie bordered on weird 70's free love porn and had a definately homoerotic undercurrent - but Connery definately brought the "man" back to the vortex.
I agree with Stpeh, this movie was awesome on many levels.
Depending on how you look at it, it could be considered to try too hard to be intelligent and have a deep point, or could just be a sci-fi movie with lots of boobies and silliness. I think it falls right in between, which makes it PERFECT. Really fun to watch, except for the stupid mirror scene. I hate mirror scenes. I think someone should do an analysis of all the mirror scenes in movies - is it just me, or was that big in the 70 / early 80s? Someone smart tell me if it was coincidence or some societal undercurrnet during that time driving shitty mirror scenes.
Best line for me was: "I've seen terrible things. I've seen men raping crippled old women ...(dramatic pause),,, in a wet ditch." This film not only dares to tackle rape as a topic, but goes one step further by talking about uncomfortable rape. Bravo, Zardoz.
mirrors were definitely in...people were sexier (and hairier, much hairier) then and they needed to look at themselves more, disco balls, mirrors over beds, this is their legacy
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