Zardoz (1974)
Country: EIRE/US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 105m
Director: John Boorman
Cast: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton
Synopsis:
In the year 2293, scientists have overreached themselves and become an effete intellectual elite known as Eternals, even conquering death. They have retreated inside a force field called The Vortex, and employ a mask-like deity (Zardoz) to reduce the overpopulated planet and enslave the remainder to grow food. Their instrument is a genetically bred class of Brutals, who kill indiscriminately and collect tribute for them. There are also the Apathetics, who have lost the will to live, and the geriatric remnants of the scientist class that preceded. Into this Vortex strays a Brutal, on a mission to know more, who irreversibly upsets the world order.
Review:
According to your mood or taste this was a supremely silly piece of pretentiousness or a treasure trove of cultural reference points for semioticians and theologians everywhere; indeed it was a contender for one of the worst films of all time, one whose reach catastrophically exceeded its grasp. Time has been kinder to it, of course, though it still comes over as impossibly arch, filled with flower power imagery and philosophical mumbo jumbo. Not that it wasn't timely in identifying a problem with science's inexorable march and the despoliation of the planet, but the ideas overwhelm the characters, who become mere ciphers, and ultimately cease to make sense, while the psychedelic imagery is protracted and headache inducing. Shot in County Wicklow, it boasts impressive imagery, as always with Boorman, such as the mask's vomiting of firearms and the destruction of the manor occupied by the Eternals. Connery's infiltration, Dorothy-like, of the wizard's mask gives the film its title, but he is also called 'Z', which could be another theological reference (alpha and omega).
Country: EIRE/US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 105m
Director: John Boorman
Cast: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton
Synopsis:
In the year 2293, scientists have overreached themselves and become an effete intellectual elite known as Eternals, even conquering death. They have retreated inside a force field called The Vortex, and employ a mask-like deity (Zardoz) to reduce the overpopulated planet and enslave the remainder to grow food. Their instrument is a genetically bred class of Brutals, who kill indiscriminately and collect tribute for them. There are also the Apathetics, who have lost the will to live, and the geriatric remnants of the scientist class that preceded. Into this Vortex strays a Brutal, on a mission to know more, who irreversibly upsets the world order.
Review:
According to your mood or taste this was a supremely silly piece of pretentiousness or a treasure trove of cultural reference points for semioticians and theologians everywhere; indeed it was a contender for one of the worst films of all time, one whose reach catastrophically exceeded its grasp. Time has been kinder to it, of course, though it still comes over as impossibly arch, filled with flower power imagery and philosophical mumbo jumbo. Not that it wasn't timely in identifying a problem with science's inexorable march and the despoliation of the planet, but the ideas overwhelm the characters, who become mere ciphers, and ultimately cease to make sense, while the psychedelic imagery is protracted and headache inducing. Shot in County Wicklow, it boasts impressive imagery, as always with Boorman, such as the mask's vomiting of firearms and the destruction of the manor occupied by the Eternals. Connery's infiltration, Dorothy-like, of the wizard's mask gives the film its title, but he is also called 'Z', which could be another theological reference (alpha and omega).
Country: EIRE/US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 105m
Director: John Boorman
Cast: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton
Synopsis:
In the year 2293, scientists have overreached themselves and become an effete intellectual elite known as Eternals, even conquering death. They have retreated inside a force field called The Vortex, and employ a mask-like deity (Zardoz) to reduce the overpopulated planet and enslave the remainder to grow food. Their instrument is a genetically bred class of Brutals, who kill indiscriminately and collect tribute for them. There are also the Apathetics, who have lost the will to live, and the geriatric remnants of the scientist class that preceded. Into this Vortex strays a Brutal, on a mission to know more, who irreversibly upsets the world order.
Review:
According to your mood or taste this was a supremely silly piece of pretentiousness or a treasure trove of cultural reference points for semioticians and theologians everywhere; indeed it was a contender for one of the worst films of all time, one whose reach catastrophically exceeded its grasp. Time has been kinder to it, of course, though it still comes over as impossibly arch, filled with flower power imagery and philosophical mumbo jumbo. Not that it wasn't timely in identifying a problem with science's inexorable march and the despoliation of the planet, but the ideas overwhelm the characters, who become mere ciphers, and ultimately cease to make sense, while the psychedelic imagery is protracted and headache inducing. Shot in County Wicklow, it boasts impressive imagery, as always with Boorman, such as the mask's vomiting of firearms and the destruction of the manor occupied by the Eternals. Connery's infiltration, Dorothy-like, of the wizard's mask gives the film its title, but he is also called 'Z', which could be another theological reference (alpha and omega).