ZARDOZ 1974
48%
Written and directed by John Boorman
Starring Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton
Synopsis
In 2293, Exterminator Zed sets out to learn the truth about Zardoz, his clan’s patriarchal god. Arriving in the settlement of the Eternals, he uncovers a secret so shocking, it could end human existence forever.
Why We Love It
Just because a film presents itself as an incoherent mishmash of ideas doesn’t mean you should skip it.
One would have to look to Alejandro Jodorowsky for a genre movie as audacious and bizarre as Zardoz. Hot off the success of Deliverance—and his failure to realize The Lord of the Rings for United Artists—director John Boorman turns his lens to a vision of humanity’s twisted future. He presents us with a time when mankind is divided into the Brutals, who live in a wasteland growing food for their superiors and indulging in primal violence, and the Eternals, who live in “The Vortex” and bicker about philosophy as they slowly succumb to an advanced state of apathy.
All of that is just set dressing, though—the real story centers on an Eternal trying to reunite the mind, heart, and genitals of humanity and create a new and better version of the species.
Or maybe it really is just about that shot of Sean Connery in a wedding dress. (If you don’t know it, Google it now.)
To try to describe Zardoz is, in some ways, to miss the point (and damn difficult, as you can see). It is the dream of a stoned hippie after reading too many sci-fi novels—a thing meant more to be experienced than processed. Characters disappear for large portions of its runtime. Philosophical ruminations are abandoned in favor of shocking visuals. Sexual freedom appears to be advocated despite a return to a patriarchal norm by the film’s baffling final dissolve. Any traditional metric of quality is too parochial a concern for Zardoz.
At the center of the madness is Connery, who holds onto the film for dear life in a bid to escape the shadow of James Bond. He gives what would become his standard Connery performance in a film he barely comprehends, but the audience is too busy trying to piece together the last inexplicable set piece to notice.
And yet the confusion is a net positive. The film is both brainy and dumb all at once. It will leave you a little bit nauseous and, like, wondering what it all means, man.