Zardoz
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Zardoz |
| Original title | Zardoz |
| Country of production | Ireland , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1974 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Boorman |
| script | John Boorman |
| production | John Boorman |
| music | David Munrow |
| camera | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| cut | John Merritt |
| occupation | |
| |
Zardoz is an Irish - American science fiction - fantasy film with a post-apocalyptic background from 1974 . Directed by John Boorman , the leading roles were cast with Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling .
action
Zardoz plays on earth in a post-apocalyptic future of the year 2293. The earth's population has split into the "brutals" and the "eternal" (in the original "Brutals" and "Eternals"). The brutals live in a steppe-like, desolate and devastated landscape in which they eke out an existence marked by disease and hunger. Furthermore, they are hunted by Zardoz 'disciples, who in addition to terrifying Zardoz masks only wear boots, cartridge belts and shorts or loincloths , and are forced by them to farm for the eternal. The Eternals control and rule these "fighters Zardoz" (in the original "Exterminators") via an artificially created deity, a flying stone head called Zardoz , who provides the fighters with weapons and receives the harvested grain.
The immortal Eternals, on the other hand, live in a paradisiacal idyll called "Vortex", as it were under a glass hood, because the Vortex is protected from the brutal by an invisible barrier. There the Eternals lead an infinite and luxurious life, which is protected and regulated by a computer called " Tabernacle ". Since the tabernacle reconstructs them in case of death, they are immortal. However, they lack challenges, goals and perspectives as well as sleep and fertility, which is why they ultimately lead a deplorable existence.
One day Zed, Zardoz's fighter, hides in the stone head and kills the Eternal Arthur Frayn who controls the stone head. In this way, Zed gets into the vortex, where he meets Consuella and May, who call him “the brutal” and subject him to a number of experiments like an animal. They later hand Zed over to a provocateur and troublemaker named Friend, who sees Zed as an exciting pastime and the possibility of an amusing distraction in the otherwise boring vortex.
Zed is reluctant to come to terms with his life as a slave and experimental subject of the two women, but in this way he succeeds in uncovering the lies and the principle of domination that are hidden behind the stone head of Zardoz. As he continues his research, he realizes that Arthur Frayn's life and future had already been planned in advance by luring him into a dilapidated library, where he loved reading and got to know the book The Wizard of Oz (from its English title “The Wi zard of Oz “, the name Zardoz is derived).
Zed was not only supposed to kill Frayn, but is also destined to destroy the Vortex and thus deliver the Eternals from immortality.
Zed eventually finds a flaw in the tabernacle, a crystal that fits in the palm of the hand. This mistake enables him to destroy the whole system, and he is faced with the question: “Would you kill God?” This then removes the invisible protection of the Vortex to the world of the brutals, whereupon these invade the isolated community and it to revolution and comes a massacre. Only a few of the eternal, who do not long for death anyway, can flee and thus have the chance to start a new life. Zed and Consuella settle in the crashed Zardoz stone head, start a family and finally die naturally at the end of the film.
production
The shooting took place in County Wicklow in Ireland .
Trivia
- The final sequence is accompanied by the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony , which is also a theme in the entire film.
- The revolver used by Zed (Connery) is actually a self -cocking Webley-Fosbery revolver . Nevertheless, Zed cocked the tap again after several shots .
Premieres
- USA: February 6, 1974
- Germany: October 31, 1974
Reviews
"Sophisticated, philosophical space explorer that draws on religious and mythical motifs - involuntarily funny in places."
“The film is told in a way that can best be described as walking the tightrope between kitsch and genius. He often starts to depict elements of society in such an exaggerated way that one almost wants to smile. But then it becomes apparent - due to the gaps mentioned above - that it is simply the lack of understanding of the overall context that gives rise to something like 'kitschy helplessness' in the viewer. "
“John Boorman's unique foray into science fiction is beyond anything. For the genre, the plot seems unusually detached and sexualized, the setting downright insane. And yet it is precisely for this reason that Zardoz is so remarkable. Boorman does not allow himself to be restricted by the rules of good taste or common sense and gives himself completely to his excessive mind games. "
Web links
- Zardoz in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Zardoz in the online film database
- Fredric Jameson: History and the death wish: Zardoz as open form in Jump Cut No. 3, 1974 (English)
- Zardoz atRotten Tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zardoz. From: movie-locations.com., Accessed on September 8, 2018.
- ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070948/soundtrack
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on Television" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 947
- ^ Stefan Höltgen: The Gun is God. (No longer available online.) Www.f-lm.de, August 29, 2003, archived from the original on December 12, 2015 ; Retrieved May 1, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Michael Kienzl: Review. www.critic.de, April 17, 2012, accessed February 4, 2013 .
