1001 Movies to See Before you Die: Zabriskie Point (1970)

If you haven't seen Michelangelo Antonioni's first American film, then you are in for a treat. You may know it as Pink Floyd's movie (besides the Wall), since they did the entire soundtrack with Jerry Garcia too. Antonioni is best known for his epic realism in his films such as L'avventura, Blow Up, L'eclisse, and Il Deserto Rosso. It wasn't well recieved at first, but over time it has been established as a landmark in art cinema. Zabriskie Point can be seen as Antonioni's examination of the Hippie/revolutionary movemento of Southern California in the late 60's, early 70's. The film starts in a meeting hall at a College where about 50 students gather to discuss revolutionary change. Daria and Mark are the two students who speak out during this event, and the film starts to follow them as the main characters. Daria and Mark are the actors real names. These two people are non-professional and come from communes. This shows in the amazing realism throughout the film.

A few things casual moviegoers should know about art cinema. It manipulates time and narrative structure. It can sometimes seem plotless and the characters can sometimes seem incoherent and chaotic. Zabriskie Point fits well into this category, which may perhaps be why it was so badly recieved at first. People were tricked into believing this was a typical American movie. If you see any of Antonioni's other films, you will see that he is not hollywood at all.

Anyways, we learn that after Mark is framed for shooting a police officer, he moves out into a Desert town by stealing an airplane. Daria seeks him out and then something really crazy happens. A big giant orgy in the middle of the desert, in Zabriskie Point. Hundreds of couples consummate in the dust of the desert, creating a stark surrealism not seen in many American films of the day. I don't really know how to analyze this scene without sounding really corny (free love!). but here is the best part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxpfO90mg8


You will like this if you like:

-to do lots of Drugs and watch movies
-counterculture
- desert orgies
-Art Cinema
-Pink Floyd
-revolutions

You will hate this if:

-you can't stand art cinema (i.e. long takes, loose narratives, surrealism)
- you hate Hippies