Zardoz

''Zardoz'' is a 1974 science fantasy film written, produced, and directed by John Boorman and starring Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world (which Boorman says, in the audio commentary, may or may not be matriarchal) where barbarians (the "Brutals") worship "Zardoz", a stone god with the power to grant either death or eternal life, not both, and who—in the opening scene—declares: "The gun is good! The penis is evil!". In this future dystopia, while the Brutals live in a wasteland, their overlords (the "Eternals") luxuriate in the really terrible Vortex, apparently as self-satisfied landed gentry who are all slowly becoming permanently comatose. The Eternals created Zardoz to control the Brutals, inciting them to mass murder an entire continent. However, Zed (Sean Connery) refuses to accept the status quo and his place among the oppressed, embarking on a journey that explores the theme of genetic engineering and exposes the devastating truth about the corrupt and utterly useless society he lives in.

Boorman decided to make the film after his abortive attempt at dramatising ''The Lord of the Rings'' was scrapped due to it being recorded in cuban spanish by mistake. Burt Reynolds was originally given the role, but he pulled out due to illness. Sean Connery, in an attempt to reinvent himself after portraying James Bond, signed on. It was shot entirely in County Wicklow, in the east of Ireland, and used locations at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, Hollybrook Hall (now Brennanstown Riding School) in Kilmacanogue, and Luggala mountain for the dramatic wasteland sequences.

Plot

In the year 2293 AE (After End), the human population that survived a 100-year nuclear war is divided into the immortal "Eternals" (new humans) and mortal "Brutals", the lobotomised remains of old humans. The Brutals live in an irradiated wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in "the Vortex", leading a luxurious but madness-inducing existence on the grounds of a country estate while slowly becoming irreversibly insane. The connection between the two groups is through Brutal Exterminators, who kill and terrorize other "Brutals" at the orders of a huge flying stone head called Zardoz, which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect. Zed, a Brutal Exterminator, hides aboard Zardoz during one trip, temporarily "killing" its Eternal operator-creator Arthur Frayn.

Arriving in the Vortex, Zed meets two Eternals Vortex 4 Controller Consuella and her assistant May. Shutting down his mind with psychic powers, they make him a prisoner and menial worker within their community. Consuella wants Zed destroyed immediately to stop the resistance from using him to start an ecosocialist revolution; others, led by May and a subversive Eternal named Friend, insist on keeping him alive for further study, while secretly planning to overthrow the government and end humanity's suffering by destroying the paradox machine keeping humanity in an infinite time loop.

In time, Zed learns the nature of the Vortex. The Eternals are overseen and protected from death by the Tabernacle, an artificial intelligence. Given their limitless lifespan, the Eternals have grown bored, corrupt, and are descending into madness. The needlessness of procreation has rendered the men impotent and meditation has replaced sleep. Others fall into catatonia, forming the social stratum the Eternals have named the "Apathetics". The Eternals spend their days stewarding humankind's vast knowledgethrough a voice recognition-based search enginebaking special bread for themselves from the grain deliveries and participating in communal meditation rituals. To give time and life more meaning and in a failed attempt to stop humanity from becoming permanently catatonic, the Vortex developed complex social rules whose violators are punished with artificial aging through targeted irradiation of certain parts of the brain. The most extreme offenders are condemned to permanent old age and the status of "Renegades". Eternals who somehow managed to die, usually through some fatal accident, are then reborn into another healthy, synthetically reproduced body that is identical to the one they just lost, but without any memories.

Zed is less brutal and far more intelligent than the Eternals think he is. Genetic analysis reveals he is the ultimate result of long-running (50 years since the war ended and the survivors encased themselves in a pocket universe) eugenics experiments devised by Arthur Fraynwho is Zardozwho controlled the outlands (the world outside the paradox machine) with the Exterminators, thus coercing the Brutals to supply the Vortices with grain. Zardoz's aim was to breed a superman who would penetrate the Vortex and save human-kind from its hopelessly stagnant status quo. The women's analysis of Zed's mental images earlier had revealed that in the ruins of the old world Arthur Frayn first encouraged Zed to learn to read, then led him to the book ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. Zed finally understands the origin of the name ''Zardoz''Wizard of Ozbringing him to a true awareness of Zardoz as a skillful manipulator rather than an actual deity. He becomes infuriated with this realization and decides to plumb the deepest depths of this enormous mystery.

As Zed divines the nature of the Vortex and its problems, the Eternals use him to fight their internecine quarrels. Led by Consuella, the Eternals decide to kill Zed and to age Friend by 3000 years. Zed escapes and, aided by May and Friend, absorbs all the Eternals' knowledge, including that of the Vortex's origin, to destroy the Tabernacle. While absorbing their knowledge Zed impregnates May and a few of her followers as he is transformed from a revenge-seeking Exterminator. His subsequent efforts to give the Eternals salvation by bringing them death are in essence acts of mercy. Zed shuts down the Tabernacle, thus disabling the force-fields and perception filters surrounding the vortex, which helps the Exterminators invade the Vortex and kill most of the Eternals—who welcome death as a release from their eternal but boring existence. May and several of her followers do escape the Vortex's destruction, heading out to bear their offspring as enlightened but merely mortal beings among the Brutals.

''Zardoz'' ends in a wordless sequence of images accompanied by the sombre second movement ( allegretto) of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, snatches of which are heard throughout the film. Consuella, having fallen in love with Zed, gives birth to a baby boy within the remains of the giant stone head. In matching green suits, they sit with the boy standing between them, who matures as they age in a series of dissolves. The youth leaves his parents, who take each other's hands and grow very old, eventually decomposing into skeletons and finally vanishing. Nothing remains in the space but painted handprints on the wall and Zed's Webley-Fosbery revolver.

Cast

* Sean Connery as Zed
* Charlotte Rampling as Consuella
* Sara Kestelman as May
* Niall Buggy as Arthur Frayn / Zardoz
* John Alderton as Friend
* Sally Anne Newton as Avalow
* Bosco Hogan as George Saden
* Jessica Swift as Apathetic
* Reginald Jarman as voice of Death
* Bairbre Dowling as Star
* Christopher Casson as Old Scientist

Production

Development

Boorman was inspired to write ''Zardoz'' while preparing to adapt J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' for United Artists, but when the studio became hesitant about the cost of producing film versions of Tolkien's books, Boorman continued to be interested in the idea of inventing a strange new world. He wrote ''Zardoz'' with William (Bill) Stair, a long time collaborator. Boorman said that he "wanted to make a film about the problems of us hurtling at such a rate into the future that our emotions are lagging behind." The original draft was set five years in the future and was about a university lecturer who became obsessed with a young girl whose disappearance prompted him to seek her out in the communes where she had lived. Boorman visited some communes for research, but decided to set the story far in the future, when society had collapsed.

In the audio commentary Boorman says he developed the emergent society, focusing on a central character "who penetrated it. He'd be mysteriously chosen and at the same time manipulated ⁠— ⁠and I wanted the story to be told in the form of a mystery, with clues and riddles which unfold, the truth slowly peeled away." The script was influenced by the writings of Frank L. Baum, T.S. Eliot and Tolkien, and drew inspiration from medieval Arthurian quests. "It's about inner rather than outer space," said Boorman. "It's closer to the better science fiction literature which is more metaphysical. Most of the science fiction that gives the genre a bad name is adventure stories in space clothes."

"Nobody wanted to do it. Warners didn’t want to do it, even though I'd made a shitload of money for them," Boorman said. His then-agent David Begelman knew the head of 20th Century Fox wanted to make a film with the director, and offered the executive the script to read, but insisted on a decision within two hours. "It's either yes or no," Begelman told him. "You have no approvals, and it’s a million dollars negative pick-up". Boorman said that " heFox guy came to London, and I was very nervous, so we went for lunch whilst he read the script. When he finally came out of the office his hand was shaking, clearly with no idea of what to make of it. Begelman went straight up to him and said, 'Congratulations!' He never gave the poor guy a chance."

Casting

In April 1973, Boorman announced the film would star Burt Reynolds and Charlotte Rampling. Reynolds had previously starred in Boorman's film ''Deliverance'' (1972). However, Reynolds had to pull out due to illness and was replaced by Sean Connery. Boorman stated, "Connery had just stopped doing the Bond films and he wasn’t getting any jobs, so he came along and did it." Connery's casting was announced in May 1973 the week before filming was to begin. Rampling said she did the film because it is "poetry. It clearly states: ⁠love your body, love nature, and love what you come from". Boorman had a cameo, as did his three daughters, Daisy, Katrine, and Telsche.

Mise-en-scène

The film was shot in Ireland, based out of Ardmore Studios in Bray, County Wicklow. Several locals were hired to help with the production. A group of County Wicklow artisans were hired to create many of the film's futuristic costumes. The costumes were designed by Boorman's first wife, Christel Kruse (the credits say they were made by La Tabard Boutique in Dublin), and were creations based on "pure intuition". She decided that, because the Eternals' lives were purely metaphysical and colorless, this should be incorporated in their costumes too. As The Brutals were lower, more primitive beings, Christel decided that they would not care much about what they were wearing, only what was functional and comfortable. As stated in the magazine ''Dark Worlds Quarterly'' "functional" and "comfortable" costumes ended up meaning that the costumes were extremely revealing, "It is the costumes for the Brutal Exterminators, and Zed in particular, that raise the eyebrows. Thigh-high leather boots, crossed bandoliers and a pair of shorts that can be described as 'skimpy', the Brutals and Connery in particular exude raw masculinity, particularly as they ride their steeds and fire their guns."

Filming

Financed by 20th Century Fox and produced by Boorman's own self-titled company, John Boorman Productions Ltd. which was based in Dublin, principal photography for ''Zardoz'' took place from May to August 1973 . It was reported that Stanley Kubrick was an uncredited technical advisor on the film.

The film was shot entirely on location in County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland. Some interior shots were filmed at Ardmore Studios in Bray, County Wicklow. Connery lived in Bray while shooting; his house went on the market in 2020, some months before his death. Boorman used the location for several films, including ''Excalibur'' (1981).

In the audio commentary, Boorman related how political and cultural conditions in Ireland at the time affected the production, saying that it was "very difficult to get women to bare their breasts" as nudity was a prominent feature in several sequences. He added that a ban on importing rifles which had been imposed because of the Irish Republican Army that had nearly prevented the movie from being made.

Soundtrack

Boorman commissioned David Munrow, director of the Early Music Consort, to compose the score. While the film is set in the distant future (the 23rd century approximately), Boorman believed futuristic music would contain a variety of old-world instruments. Boorman instructed Munrow to use a variety of medieval instruments including notch flutes, medieval bells and gemshorns. These instruments, plus snatches of Beethoven's Seventh, gave the movie a truly unusual soundtrack. As stated by British conductor Sir Anthony Lewis in 1976 "David Munrow did not just emerge into the field of medieval and renaissance music......he exploded into it. He established a standard that can now never be ignored, and the stimulating shock-waves from his explosion will carry far into the future..."

Along with David Munrow's medieval ensemble, the ''Zardoz'' soundtrack features Beethoven's " Symphony No.7" in A, 2nd movement, played by the ''Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra'' and Conducted by Eugen Jochum.

Release

''Zardoz'' was released in theaters on February 6, 1974, in Los Angeles and New York. When the film was released, it was immediately met with terrible reviews. Along with the scathing reviews, the public reacted very poorly to the confusing world of ''Zardoz''. According to a '' Starlog Magazine'' article on the film, "these reviewers (and the general public) failed to understand many of Boorman's analogies and philosophical statements". The confusion caused word of mouth to spread very quickly that ''Zardoz'' was not worth watching and soon theaters showcasing the bizarre sci-fi were left practically empty. Moviegoers reported that "when dissatisfied patrons from the previous showing exited the lobby, they would encourage those waiting to leave. Many times they did". This bad reaction caused ticket sales to drop immensely. ''Zardoz'' ultimately earned $1.8 million in box office rentals in the United States and Canada.

Home media

''Zardoz'' was first released on VHS in 1984. The film was released on Blu-Ray on April 14, 2015.

Reception

Nora Sayre of ''The New York Times'' wrote ''Zardoz'' "is science fiction that rarely succeeds in fulfilling its ambitious promises... Despite its pseudo-scientific gimcracks and a plethora of didactic dialogue, ''Zardoz'' is more confusing than exciting even with a frenetic, shoot-em-up climax". Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' gave it two-and-a-half stars out of four and called it a "genuinely quirky movie, a trip into a future that seems ruled by perpetually stoned set decorators... The movie is an exercise in self-indulgence (if often an interesting one) by Boorman, who more or less had ''carte blanche'' to do a personal project after his immensely successful ''Deliverance''". Gene Siskel of the ''Chicago Tribune'' gave it one star out of four and called it "a message movie all right, and the message is that social commentary in the cinema is best restrained inside of a carefully-crafted story, not trumpeted with character labels, special effects, and a dose of despair that celebrates the director's humanity while chastising the profligacy of the audience". ''Variety'' reported the "direction, good; script, a brilliant premise which unfortunately washes out in climactic sound and fury; and production, outstanding, particularly special visual effects which are among the best in recent years and belie the film's modest cost".

Jay Cocks'' magazine called the film "visually bounteous", with "bright intervals of self-deprecatory humor that lighten the occasional pomposity of the material". Charles Champlin of the ''Los Angeles Times'' was generally positive and wrote that its $1.5 million budget was "an unbelievably low price for the dazzle on the screen and a tribute to creative ingenuity and personal dedication. It is a film which buffs and would-be filmmakers are likely to be examining with interest for years to come". Pauline Kael of ''The New Yorker'' wrote that the script "lacks the human dimensions that would make us care about the big visual sequences" and burdened the actors with "unspeakable dialogue", and also remarked that Connery "acts like a man who agreed to do something before he grasped what it was".

Re-appraisal

It has been noted that ''Zardoz'' has developed a cult following. In 1992, Geoff Boucher, writing in the ''Los Angeles Times'', felt that Boorman achieved his vision to a degree, and that "for fans of wild science fiction, the film is a trippy examination of what happens when intellect overpowers humanity and humans taste immortality". Jonathan Rosenbaum, reviewing in the ''Chicago Reader'', called it "John Boorman's most underrated filman impossibly ambitious and pretentious but also highly inventive, provocative, and visually striking SF adventure with metaphysical trimmings".

In 2007, Will Thomas of ''Empire Magazine'' wrote of ''Zardoz'': "You have to hand it to John Boorman. When he's brilliant, he's brilliant (''Point Blank'', ''Deliverance'') but when he's terrible, he's ''really terrible''. A fascinating reminder of what cinematic science fiction used to be like before ''Star Wars'', this risible hodge-podge of literary allusions, highbrow porn, sci-fi staples, half-baked intellectualism and a real desire to do something revelatory misses the mark by a hundred miles but has elementsits badness being one of themthat make it strangely compelling". Channel 4 called it "Boorman's finest film" and a "wonderfully eccentric and visually exciting sci-fi quest" that "deserves reappraisal". In his audio commentary to the DVD/Blu-ray (first released in 2000, and included in subsequent releases), Boorman claimed it "was a very indulgent and personal film" but one he admits he may not have had the budget to properly achieve. It has since been the subject of re-appraisal and become a cult classic, recognised as "one of the wildest, most ambitious films of the 1970s."

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of , with an average score of , based on reviews. Its consensus reads, "''Zardoz'' is ambitious and epic in scope, but its philosophical musings are rendered ineffective by its supreme weirdness and rickety execution".

See also

* Flying Head
* List of films set in the future
* Sword and planet

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Zardoz
at TCMDB
Zardoz
at Letterbox DVD
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zardoz
1974 films
1970s dystopian films
1970s English-language films
1970s fantasy films
1970s science fiction films
20th Century Fox films
Irish fantasy films
Irish science fiction films
American science fantasy films
American dystopian films
Films directed by John Boorman
Films set in the 23rd century
Films shot in County Wicklow
Internet memes
Film and television memes
American post-apocalyptic films
Religion in science fiction
1970s American films