Wednesday, January 02, 2013

How Do You Explain Zardoz?

I didn't see the movie Zardoz when it was first released in 1974. I was deep in to Funkology 101 and although this movie was trippy my concerns were elsewhere. It is a challenging movie to try to explain.

I've been watching reviews of the movie by under 40 years of age people. With one exception most are straight up baffled and perplexed that such a movie was made.



If you have never seen the movie this is a three minute trailer. This is about as coherent as the movie gets. Personally, I deeply enjoy a man wearing a red tie-on diaper and thigh-high boots. The chest hair is an added bonus.
 
I'm not kidding. For me, seeing Sir Sean in that outfit is like payback for all the years I was subjected to photos of Raquel Welch standing crooked in the sand and Sophia Loren coming out of the water soaking wet.

I...um..yeah.

The movie, must focus on the movie.

What is it about? Well it is set in the future when the shizz is on the other side of the fan. You got grown men worshiping a giant rock who spews out guns to kill people known as the infestation.

You have a group of elite folks that live good and have powers but do nothing to help the poor bastards getting shot because the rock tells the men folks to kill.

The rock goes into no details about the fellas not using their joysticks.

You got pillaging. You have penises forcing themselves on any stray woman that they encounter.

You have Charlotte Ramping trying to invoke a science experiment. She is trying to get Sir Sean eroticized by showing him a video of women wrestling in mud.

You got old people. You got Apathetics. You have Sean licking some dudes hand. Crystals. Naked folks. Death.

Okay. I'm not doing a good job.

You could say it is an allegory on the faith hypocrisy of human beings, saying one thing and doing another. That everything is a contradiction because there are no rules. There isn't anyone in charge. There are Apathetics in degrees of consciousness. 

You could say this was a movie designed for people in late 1974 to watch in an altered state of being. Meaning, that when people could smoke in a movie theater they would "smoke.' If you were in the balcony of certain theaters and seated with a community of like minded souls you saw a whole different movie than if you watched straight.

This is one of the few movies that viewers could benefit from a good glass of wine, hard cider or three shots of Southern Comfort. Don't waste time on the cheap stuff. You need fortification to make it to the end.

For those of you on abstinence or working a program I would say have some of you favorite foods or a good blanket to make yourself comfortable. It is a mind trip but remember; this time it really is the movie.

This is not a great movie. This is not necessarily a good movie. It isn't an out and out howler of a bad movie.

It is on that precious border line just shy of an functional Edward G. Wood movie. Zardoz had money. The budget was good, the sets were believable.

The story? There had to be an original source but what was done to it I do not know. If this wasn't the author's intent then somebody got rooked.

The script?  Technically there had to be one.

I would say that if you get the opportunity to watch the movie on a cold rain soaked night in bed you should certainly do so.

I would ask that you lower your expectations. Being open to what you see but don't try to make sense of it. It is not possible. Many have tried and have wept in tears from the pain.

Me, I might see the whole thing again one day. But then again, seeing it once can last a good long while.

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