Zabriskie Point - by Michelangelo Antonioni (1970)

Russia released, NTSC (USA and Canada), ALL REGION, FULL SCREEN. AUDIO OPTIONS: Dolby Digital 2.0 ENGLISH (movie is completely in English) and Dolby Digital 2.0 RUSSIAN (voice-over). Original Russian artwork.............................................................. SYNOPSIS: Zabriskie Point, director Michelangelo Antonioni's only American film, is an unusual, visually stunning examination of youthful rebellion against the Establishment. The film, initially presented in quasi-documentary style, presents a group of college activists discussing key issues of their political agenda. Mark (Mark Frechette) steals an airplane and flies over a desert where he meets Daria (Daria Halprin). She is the pot-smoking secretary to businessman Lee Allen (Rod Taylor), while he is a rebel searching for a worthy cause. In the midst of the arid surroundings, Mark and Daria fall in love. Antonioni's nonrealistic approach to American counterculture myths, his loose and sluggish narrative, and the dialogue (credited to Fred Gardner, Sam Shepard, Tonino Guerra, Clare Peploe, and Antonioni) caused Zabriskie Point to be poorly received when it was first released. The score features songs from Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope, The Rolling Stones, John Fahey, The Youngbloods and Patti Page. Product Description

Lost Idealism

Director Michelangelo Antonioni's ZABRISKIE POINT is a masterpiece of pure cinema that somehow seems lost to those that despised it as well as to those that embraced it back in 1970. Mark (Mark Frechette) the iconoclast hero is disenchanted with the discussion of college students that we see him congregate with inside a lecture hall somewhere in Los Angeles. The students discuss peace and peace activism conducted and achieved through acts of civil disobedience. Apparently they can't reach a consensus on what means they will use to achieve their end. Convinced they are not willing to take the most extreme of all actions and tired of their rhetoric Mark leaves, buys a gun, nearly kills a cop and impulsively steels an airplane leading him off into the desert. . Simultaneously, we see Daria (Daria Halprin) a very young secretary to land developer Lee Allen (Rod Taylor) decidedly skipping a workday and driving off into the desert in her old Buick. Eventually their paths cross in the desert and they stop their flight at the crest of the Zabriskie Point overlook. For me viewing this film I don't necessarily see the contrast between an American society so decadent, self-centered and materialistic when compared to the two protagonists Mark and Daria. They are unaware that the very thing they are trying to escape, they are in fact part of or even symptomatic of. They look into the barren terrain of the desert and see a beautiful landscape. Yet when they make naked love they are consumed and covered in sand and dust which is symbolically the resulting fruit to the consummation of the act. They are from dust. Their result shall be dust. When Daria first drove into the desert she stopped at a roadside bar frequented by a man long past his physical prime and lost in a singular moment of youthful triumph. Outside the roadside bar Daria found a group of young boys, much younger than her, who equally were lost in their youthful retrogression and idleness. There is no growth in this film for any of its characters, only stagnation. There is no real emergence of a counterculture or any notion of such in this film. There is only the singular culture of man and the limitations of man when compared to the immense and vast majesty, beauty and beguilement of nature. Cinematographer Alfio Contini's color images capture this so vividly. Even the script is more revealing than it appears. We still get the cliched version of a Los Angeles police force. But the business establishment represented by land developer Lee Allen (Rod Taylor) is also seen to be at odds when selling his idealized project. We don't specifically see it, but we get the notion that he is trying to sell a housing project that will incorporate itself into the landscape and become one-with-nature. We see the home that developer Allen has created for himself, a beautiful domicile in the desert, which at first glance seems to go in tandem with this notion of co-existing with nature. But this too can not be in such a vision that Antonioni has created. Equally along the way Mark's fate has prophetically been sealed. Daria's final apocalyptic vision is that of director Antonioni's. No matter what culture man establishes there can never be true harmony. The only true harmony is nature unto itself. September 20, 2008

Zabriskie Point

I was nervous when it arrived because the dvd package was in Russian. But it's an English speaking movie. My man's favorite and it was new to me. Good film, awesome soundrack! June 11, 2008

ANTONIONI AT HIS MOST PRETENTIOUS

Give an European art film director too much money (as Hollywood always does) and this is what you can expect. The photography (despite the laughably unending house explosion at the finale) and the music aside (buy the album instead of the movie), the most memorable dialogue spoken by the catatonic actors as they sit in the sand and comment on the desert, She: "It's beautiful." He: "It's dead." So's the movie. April 10, 2008

only for musical completists

"Zabriskie Point" is a 60's art film. For starters, the film doesn't have much of a plot. Essentially, two young people briefly hook-up while out in the desert. Mark and Dara make their way to Zabriskie Point, which is actually a popular vista in Death Valley National Park. In film lore, it's the same place where Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker, "Mos Eisley Spaceport . . . You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." I suppose that advice could easily transfer to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film. Out in the badlands, Mark and Dara engage in a group sex scene that borders on soft porn. The ending has lots of explosions that happen for the sake of blowin' stuff up. Quentin Tarantino would be impressed. The lack of character development doesn't help to compensate for the weak plot. The characters and their agenda earn little empathy. Not having any prior acting experience, both Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin gave flat performances. Not only do late 1960's esthetics reverberate in the film's style and approach but also in the content and theme of rebellion. Indeed, the movie is infused with hippy dialogue, campus protests and free love. The strength of "Zabriskie Point" is the music. The soundtrack has always been more popular than the actual film. While the musical quality isn't consistent, it's mostly fantastic. Jerry Garcia's 'love scene' is a highlight. Playing divine solo electric sounds, Garcia's contribution was especially recorded for the film. While the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead make worthy additions, the most important music is played by Pink Floyd. In addition to featuring rare and interesting music, the Floyd received a lion's share of screen time. Audiophiles should pick-up the reissue of Zabriskie Point's expanded, two CD soundtrack. Despite the music, "Zabriskie Point" was a financial flop that was ignored by the 'in' crowd and criticized by the establishment. The passage of almost forty years hasn't really changed how the film is appreciated.

While fans of Michelangelo Antonioni should stick with films like "The Passenger," "Zabriskie Point" has undeniable charm given the musical contribution. For this reason, the film deserves to be in-print. Unfortunately, it is only available in this Russian version. This is not a bootleg or Asian knock-off, but an official Warner Brothers sanctioned version. Amazon reviewer "goss" is wrong in describing this as a PAL format DVD. It is in NTSC format and playable in all regions. Heck it even comes with surround sound capabilities. Other than the price, the primary drawback is that the menu is in Russian. Given that Russian subtitles play by default, turning them off can be frustrating. While the film should be avoided if possible, musical completists like myself will inevitably fall to temptation.
September 23, 2007

MISUNDERSTOOD.

Yes I think its a great film. From the wooden acting of the leads to the Pink Floyd extravaganza at its finale, Zabriskie Point never fails to astound with its incomparable visuals and mastery. Mr Antonioni bravely flings himself on the minefeild of the sixties in America and the results are unlike anything else. Sure to confound most everyone expecting a trite fable, what one receives instead is a blisteringly funny and beautiful comment on a culture too obsessed with consumerism and "success" to notice much besides its own narcicissm. Brilliant. August 4, 2007

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