Zardoz: SF’s Maligned Masterpiece

Zardoz is one of those cult films that people either love or hate; there seems to be little middle ground. Since I’m posting an essay about this film, which is nearly half a century old as of this writing, I’m firmly in the ‘love it’ camp. If you watch it with an open mind, you might join that camp, too.

This science fiction movie, released in 1974, and directed by John Boorman (later of Deliverance and Excalibur fame) has been much maligned over the years, but most of the criticisms are focused on the piece’s admittedly low-budget effects and costumes. The narrative does have its issues, but Zardoz’s themes and scope are nothing short of breathtaking. Boorman made an ambitious, avant-garde scifi film, unapologetic and unflinching as much as it is compelling.

This essay contains spoilers, and is intended for those who have watched the film.

Synopsis

“Time? Wasn’t eternity enough?” – Friend, to May, on destroying the Vortex

Zed, played by Sean Connery, is an Exterminator, a Brutal that worships a flying head called Zardoz, in the year 2293. He and his fellow cultists kill other Brutals—normal humans—who breed too quickly, and thus threaten the Earth’s sustainability. But Zardoz orders them to enslave the Brutals in order to grow food, which makes Zed and his comrades suspicious. Zed sneaks into the ‘Vortex’ (a reward promised to the Exterminators by Zardoz) in order to find answers. But the Vortex, rather than a so-called afterlife, is a physical place. It’s inhabited by the Eternals: humans that have developed telepathy, telepathic technology, and immortality via a device called the Tabernacle. They live a utopian yet static existence, contrasting the dystopian murderscape that Zed comes from, the Outlands. There are multiple Vortexes, but the film only shows us one; situated in what is presumably Britain (the movie was filmed in Ireland).

The Eternals are fascinated and revolted by Zed, most of whom regard him as an animal. One of them—May—realizes Zed’s potential: a Brutal with superior physical and mental attributes, capable of destroying the Eternals. Which is exactly what he brings about; Zed was enabled by another Eternal, Arthur Frayn, to destroy the Eternals and their Vortex, so that a natural order can be restored and the Eternals’ stagnant existence might end. The film ends with other Exterminators invading the Vortex, murdering Eternals who want to die, while Zed escapes with Consuella, another Eternal with whom he has a son later. The pair remain together until they die of old age, eschewing the immortality of the Eternals.

Scope

In this secret room from the past, I seek the future. – written on a wall in Arthur Frayn’s room

Compared to most science fiction films of the 50s and 60s, Zardoz focused more on psychological and sociological concerns rather than technology or cold hard science. Boorman was quoted as saying “it’s about inner rather than outer space”.

There are no analogs of the West fighting Communism (UFO invasion movies, such as War of the Worlds), or the paranoia of the McCarthy era (like Invasion of the Body Snatchers). There’s no fetishization of technology  (like 2001: A Space Odyssey—which is also my favorite film) or Heinleinesque science fiction (Forbidden Planet). And while Zardoz is presumably post-apocalyptic, it doesn’t dwell on the rigors of survival as seen in stories focused on the aftermath of a nuclear war (On The Beach) or uses past cataclysms as plot points (the original Planet of the Apes films, particularly Beneath the Planet of the Apes). It is representative of 70s cinematic scifi, such as The Andromeda Strain, Silent Running, and Solaris, which moved away from Golden Age-styled SF pulp and delivered more introspective narratives.

Zardoz concerns itself with what immortality would really mean for mortal creatures such as ourselves. The natural cycle, as we know it, isn’t infinite. Everything eventually dies in its own manner. Especially, to our great chagrin, humans.

Science fiction rarely does immortality well, because most stories don’t take into account how such a state would affect us mentally. Maintaining a functioning body is far easier than preserving one’s mind. Organs, limbs, blood, tissue...these can all be replicated an/or replaced to a certain degree. Our brains are a different matter. They contain our consciousness (unless one subscribes to the idea that one’s consciousness inhabits the entire body). This cannot be preserved in any way with current technology, and I suspect that will remain so for centuries, if not forever. Consciousness, and what makes a person an individual, is a complex collection of variables, influenced over time and experience, in the chemical soup that is our psyches.

Yet in Zardoz, we are presented with immortals—the Eternals—who have grown sick of their achievement, and seek an end to their perpetual lives. It is not a simple wish; many experience fear and pain upon their demise in the film’s climax. The irony is that they are incapable of voluntary destruction, but create the subterfuge with Zed in order to accomplish that goal.

But physical and mental aging are well within the Eternals’ power. They use it as a form of punishment. Eternals that have been aged into a geriatric state are called ‘Renegades’, and they suffer the maladies of frail bodies and frailer minds. Their scenes are my favorite moments in the film, since that is such a cruel punishment. Aging itself is not a bad thing; I’m referring to its use as a societal penalty. In Zardoz, this method steals years, even decades, from a healthier life. In the case of the Renegades, who still cannot die, it is an everlasting prison.

“We want to die. What’s the trick?” Friend asks, as we learn that the Renegades pine for the ‘gift of death’. They refer to it as one might a mythological entity, like children whispering ghost stories. They refer to Zed as the ‘Liberator’: death incarnate.

In this regard, Zardoz isn’t about a future on other worlds or within urban sprawls. It’s about us, what we do with our lives, and what we pass on to the next generation—if we even allow the existence of a subsequent generation, which the Eternals did not. Such selfishness was ultimately their undoing. This also rings true with our civilization’s lackadaisical approach to climate change, but that is another discussion.

Themes

There are many layers to Zardoz; Boorman packed the film to the brim, possibly being too ambitious in his approach. The key theme, of course, is the one concerning immortality and a return to the natural order. Here are others that stood out upon subsequent viewings.

Deicide: Zed, upon sneaking aboard the floating head of Zardoz, encounters an Eternal (Arthur Frayn), and kills him with his revolver. Why Zed does this isn’t clear; was it a reaction out of fear, or was he angry that his alleged god was controlled by a mere human? Either way, he slays the very thing he wanted to question. Killing one’s god symbolizes a rejection of one’s long-held beliefs and perspectives, in favor of new ones. Since Frayn was responsible for suggesting to Zed, in an old library, that Zardoz was a lie, he might have anticipated Zed’s violent reaction to his presence in Zardoz’s head. Destroying his assumptions in this manner prepared Zed for what he would encounter in the Vortex.

Fascism: Zardoz’s teachings, while simple and severe, strike me as the apotheosis of fascism. This is the dialogue the flying head speaks to the Exterminators:

“The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life, and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death, and purifies the earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth and kill!”

Fascism is defined as ‘a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy’ (Wikipedia).

The Brutals have reached the apex of that poisonous ideology, where utter obedience to Zardoz is tantamount, while exercising their assumed superiority over the Brutals with violence. Fascism ultimately leads to genocide, and that is precisely what the Exterminators have been tasked with. In the story, they are the only Brutals allowed to breed; fascist ideology is often obsessed with who is allowed to procreate. Those who aren’t are regarded as vermin. They are a ‘cult of the gun’, destructive and phallic. Even their outfits exhibit their sense of machismo (or as the costume designer said, ‘exude raw masculinity’). The irony is that the Exterminators eliminate humans while creating new ones themselves, via their selective breeding.

Hubris: The Eternals wanted to preserve what they thought was the best of humanity, and did so by shielding themselves within the Vortexes—while the rest of humanity suffered. They made themselves immortal, then intentionally erased that knowledge from their minds so they could never undo it (the cloning/consciousness transference of the Tabernacle). Yet such drastic actions stink of arrogance, rather than altruism or enlightenment.

Charlotte Rampling, who portrayed Consuella in the film, said she joined the cast because Zardoz is “poetry. It clearly states: ⁠love your body, love nature, and love what you come from”.

The Eternals sought to escape what they came from, and remade themselves into gods. Yet they had no idea what to occupy their newfound-immortality with; nothing satisfied them for long. In Arthur Frayn’s room, there is a question mark after the word ‘Eternal’, suggesting he doesn’t know what comes next in his evolution—and is incapable of finding out. According to Friend, the Eternals even reached the stars, but they were ‘another dead end’. Nothing satisfied their perpetual ennui.

The Eternals have become masters of creation, but do not understand what comes next. Their existence is a shell of their former selves. In contrast, the hydroponics bags that Zed sees upon entering the Vortex infers that the Eternals possess the knowledge of life’s creation, beyond the merely biological methods that humans have used for millennia. Yet the Eternals cannot enjoy their immortality: they cannot be sexually aroused (thus, according to them, they avoid violent tendencies). They do not sleep, and their constant wakefulness likely increases their psychological fatigue. They believe that ‘sleep was closely connected to death’ and thus have engineered their new bodies (and minds) to function without it.

Yet the Apathetics—Eternals who who fallen into a terminal languor, not even defending themselves—show the folly behind such a goal. They might possess immortality, but they exist in state of emotional inertia. The body, one way or another, might last forever, but the mind does not. The Eternals have no cure for the Apathetics, and it is only through exposure to Zed that they find themselves again, before they are massacred—gratefully—during the finale.

Random Observations:

Sean Connery seems like a strange casting choice, given his age at the time (44), but when one considers the subtext—the Brutals’ virility, versus the Eternals’ elegance—it fits. This isn’t an ageist comment; in the Outlands, it stands to reason that few humans would live beyond the age of thirty, given how violent it is. I’m sure Connery’s fame from playing James Bond was intended to draw attention to the film; plus, Connery was desperate for work, so the arrangement worked out for everyone.

Zed’s (Connery’s) red outfit is just as ridiculous as everyone thinks it is. It looks more fetishistic than functional, and even though the Exterminators are more or less a cult, I don’t see them having any fetishes other than murder.

Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement, used in the film, was written by the composer as a response to Napoleon’s warmongering. It’s a piece celebrating the liberation of territories from Napoleon’s control. Given the ‘liberation’ of the Eternals in the film, I wonder if Boorman selected the piece for that reason.  

The Eternals’ headdress resembles an ancient Egyptian headwear, called a nemes. The elites of that distant civilization were also obsessed with immortality, and spent much effort and resources in guaranteeing their place in it, according to their cosmology.

There’s a lot of subtext in the film, concerning the connections some have experienced regarding the thrill of sex/fear/death in the same situation.

The Renegades’ state of living (old music, archaic clothes) implies that old age, as a concept, rather than a physical condition, is associated with being trapped in the past. The implication is that the other Eternals punished them by placing them in humanity’s former state; a devolution.

Zed’s romance with Consuella is too sudden.

What sort of film would this be if Zed were a woman?

No people of color? Is the future only the domain of rich white people?

Final Analysis:

Zardoz is ultimately about what we pass on to the next generation, and what happens when that stops. The Eternals pass on nothing. They are even incapable of destroying themselves, and depend on another to do it. They pass on what they know to that destroyer, so that the cycle of creation can begin again. Knowledge itself is a seed of creation. It is useless unless it is available to others, since knowledge must evolve or it, too, will decay and decline.

Zed’s osmosis scene, inside the crystal, anthropomorphizes the concept of knowledge, casting it over images of naked women. This implies a reverse of sexual fertilization, where these women telepathically fertilize Zed’s mind instead, with all the Eternals know. In the crystal’s labyrinth of reflections, Zed shoots a mirror image of himself as he absorbs the Tabernacle’s knowledge. He destroys the past to save the future (like the Eternals destroy the statues and busts of ancient gods as they seek Zed’s death). Thus, the destruction of the self paves the way for change. In this process, the Eternals become what they sought escape from: reactionary, violent impulses: “In hunting you, I have become you,” Consuella tells Zed. But those impulses also foster passion, curiosity, and love.

Zardoz espouses the restoration of the ‘natural order’, but the only definite process we humans know is death. The real natural order is constant change, rather than the stagnation contained in the Vortexes. The human mind is the ultimate repository of knowledge, superior to books and other mediums, but this knowledge must be shared with others for it to survive. This is at odds with how the Eternals hoarded such knowledge for three centuries. The past cannot be preserved forever in static forms. Life is too dynamic for that, and it must be shared and allowed to evolve. The Eternals learn this at the end.

What does this film mean to us in the 21^st century? Climate change is upon us, we are battling fascism in countries that once fought wars to defeat it, and economic inequality is likely the greatest it has ever been in human history. Zardoz shows what would happen if a subset of humanity decided what was best for the species, as well as the planet; a parallel with what the richest 1% in our society want, at the expense of the rest of us. The film is a reminder that we should not be so selfish that we damn future generations with ignorance and a poisoned world. The Eternals did that to the Brutals, when a better solution could have been had. One does not make the world better by making its scope smaller and more exclusive.

Boorman was quoted as saying 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’. He was right. We grow callous in our imagined white towers as the world burns outside. There’s still time to change that.

Thus I term Zardoz a masterpiece. Its execution often stumbles, its psychedelia sometimes overshadows the plot, and its ambitious vision is too grand to be contained in a two-hour film, but Boorman made an effort, and it is a commendable one.

Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox