Z.P.G. – Zero Population Growth (1971/Legend Films DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: D Film: B
It is too
easy to underrate the great number of important Science Fiction films the
British Cinema has produced and even when they have not dated as well as they
could have (1936’s The Shape Of Things
To Come a primary example) the influence and innovation is enormous and
some gems seem to get lost along the way.
One of them is Michael Campus’ Z.P.G.
– Zero Population Growth (1971) about a corporatized police state where
pollution and massive birth have caused the world to collapse.
People
have to wear masks to walk anywhere and life is managed electronically in too
many ways, reducing the individual to cogs, but now the state has decided that
there are too many people and childbirth is illegal. It is also punishable by death. One couple (Oliver Reed and Geraldine
Chaplin) try to follow this law, one that people help the state enforce by
harassing and beating anyone they catch with a real baby. The state offers sick robotic ones (you have
to see to believe) in place of the real thing, but Carol (Chaplin) cannot take
it anymore. She becomes pregnant and
they do what they can do to hide it.
No one
suspects at first, including their neighbors (Diane Cilento, Don Gordon) who
are supposed to be their friends, but they will only be able to keep things
secret so long before either the state and those brainwashed by them to hate
and kill them or they can find a way to find asylum and get to another part of
the decimated planet where they can live in peace and raise their child. This is a dark work that some will have a
hard time handling, arriving the same year as A Clockwork Orange and THX-1138
(the one before Lucas digitized it), but it is worthy of those classics and
deserves to be rediscovered as the genre classic it is.
Derek
Meddings did the special visual effects before logging up work on six Bond
films (beginning with Live & Let Die
in 1973) plus the Christopher Reeve Superman
films, Supergirl spin-off and
first Burton Batman film. Staring on the SuperMarionation shows like Thunderbirds, Meddings created
distinctive model and effects work that has actually appreciated instead of the
reverse and is still influencing films all the way to Spielberg’s A.I., among other films by people in
the know. Add the creepy production
design by Anthony Masters (2001, Lynch’s Dune)
and the film is a true visual original whose influence extends to Logan’s Run, Clonus and Soylent Green.
The
acting is impressive and Campus’ directing is impressive for a first film. He moved to America and followed up with two
classics out of the cycle of African American drama and Blaxploitation: The Mack and The Education of Sonny Carson.
Longtime genre writer Max Ehrlich moved from TV to novels and resulting
in a few feature film adaptations like this one that he co-produced (co-writing
the screenplay with co-producer Frank De Felitta, who also came from TV) and also
saw an impressive version of The
Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (where is the DVD and Blu-ray?) also arrive a
few years later.
For all
intents and purposes, you could consider this a Horror film and a political
one, the later of which might be the reason it was out of circulation for so
long. But now, the film is finally
available to be rediscovered and is strongly recommended for all serious film
fans.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is not bad for its age, the elements are
in decent shape, but this is still a little softer than one would like and
though color can be consistent, depth is also compromised. The stocks used are EastmanColor and the
British labs and locations add to the sense of visual darkness in profound
ways. Director of Photography Michael
Reed, B.S.C., is known for his work on British TV (The Saint, The New Avengers)
as well as for the Hammer Studios and on the James Bond classic On her Majesty’s Secret Service. He brought, along with Mikael Solomon on some
shots, create a dark, dense atmosphere that is intentionally claustrophobic and
creates the film’s own cold, inescapable world.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is compressed a bit, but is still audible and
Johnathan Hodge’s score is a big plus.
There are sadly no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
