Zardoz is one of the most ambitious films ever undertaken. It may have been a little too ambitious for its own good. There's a whole lot to keep in your head and it does take away from the enjoyment of the film.
It's an interesting alternative telling of the Garden of Eden story with a mixture of the Wizard of Oz. Only this particular Eden is a trap where the people in it, a self created elite, are so bored with immortality they long for the release of death.
Outside of the Eden known as the Tabernacle, in the rest of the war ravaged future Earth live the Brutals. Those are the folks who didn't make the cut of membership for the elite. They just survive out there, hunting, farming, whatever and they have to watch out for a special group of trained killers who are given guns by the elite of the Tabernacle to kill them just to keep the population down. Wouldn't teaching them about condoms and the pill been a little less bloody?
Anyway one of the killers, a chap named Zed played by Sean Connery, breaks into paradise where no one from the outside has been in several hundred years and he becomes an object of fear and curiosity. Study him or kill him is the debate that rages for the rest of the film.
There's a lot to digest with Zardoz. One of the consequences of immortality is the fact that with no need to propagate, certain sexual functions in the male have been discarded. That's causing a certain antsiness in the females of paradise and Connery might be an answer to a lot of prayers.
Like the Garden of Eden story, Connery gains knowledge through in this case more than one Eve and knowledge destroys the garden. But here the population of Eden can't wait to be released from paradise one way or the other. The final moments showing Connery and Charlotte Rampling as the new founders of a renewed human race are unforgettable.
I saw Zardoz in the theater back in the day and back then the critical response wasn't good. It's an interesting film, but more cerebral than entertaining. Maybe it provokes too much thought for its own good.
One thing you might be wary of. Depending on your view and tolerance of controlled substance you should be forewarned or urged as the case may be in seeing Zardoz while stoned or high.
It's an interesting alternative telling of the Garden of Eden story with a mixture of the Wizard of Oz. Only this particular Eden is a trap where the people in it, a self created elite, are so bored with immortality they long for the release of death.
Outside of the Eden known as the Tabernacle, in the rest of the war ravaged future Earth live the Brutals. Those are the folks who didn't make the cut of membership for the elite. They just survive out there, hunting, farming, whatever and they have to watch out for a special group of trained killers who are given guns by the elite of the Tabernacle to kill them just to keep the population down. Wouldn't teaching them about condoms and the pill been a little less bloody?
Anyway one of the killers, a chap named Zed played by Sean Connery, breaks into paradise where no one from the outside has been in several hundred years and he becomes an object of fear and curiosity. Study him or kill him is the debate that rages for the rest of the film.
There's a lot to digest with Zardoz. One of the consequences of immortality is the fact that with no need to propagate, certain sexual functions in the male have been discarded. That's causing a certain antsiness in the females of paradise and Connery might be an answer to a lot of prayers.
Like the Garden of Eden story, Connery gains knowledge through in this case more than one Eve and knowledge destroys the garden. But here the population of Eden can't wait to be released from paradise one way or the other. The final moments showing Connery and Charlotte Rampling as the new founders of a renewed human race are unforgettable.
I saw Zardoz in the theater back in the day and back then the critical response wasn't good. It's an interesting film, but more cerebral than entertaining. Maybe it provokes too much thought for its own good.
One thing you might be wary of. Depending on your view and tolerance of controlled substance you should be forewarned or urged as the case may be in seeing Zardoz while stoned or high.