I saw "ZP" during its initial theatrical release at a theater on an Air Force Base in Texas. Although it was a little more controversial than "My Fair Lady", it was not the revolutionary and subversive piece that many of its current admirers like to believe, or at least the armed forces saw fit to make it accessible to the troops. Of course that was at least in part because nobody could figure out what Antonioni was trying to communicate with this film.
So let's get real, "ZP" is neither the masterpiece its fans claim nor the hopeless morass that most casual viewers find it after their initial exposure. It has some interesting themes and some innovative techniques. It was Antonioni's only foray into America and he had been marking time for several years after "Blowup". As a foreigner he was attracted to the growing student protests on US campuses, these were already a tradition in Europe but were almost unprecedented in America.
His outsider status provided an excellent opportunity for an objective evaluation of US culture at the end of the 1960's. Unfortunately his rambling tale was too superficial to really capture the moods, atmosphere, and dynamics of this period of social change. Other films like "The Strawberry Statement", "Getting Straight", "Joe", "Medium Cool", and "Gimme Shelter" are far better time capsules.
Antonioni's screenplay (if it can be called that) is more an excuse for filming lots of ordinary things in extraordinary ways. You don't ever forget his heroine's smile as she fantasies about blowing up her lover's luxury house, with slow motion images of our materialistic society being blown over the desert. All this to the Pink Floyd's "Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up"; a retooled "Careful With That Axe Eugene".
Antonioni was probably trying to tell us something with his film, maybe that positive change is an internal attitude thing and that violence is not the way to change the system. In 1971 the obvious message was that it was irresponsible to run away or dropout from even an extremely decadent society, that once you get your own head together the responsible thing is to return and change the system with a positive example, even if it gets you killed.
So let's get real, "ZP" is neither the masterpiece its fans claim nor the hopeless morass that most casual viewers find it after their initial exposure. It has some interesting themes and some innovative techniques. It was Antonioni's only foray into America and he had been marking time for several years after "Blowup". As a foreigner he was attracted to the growing student protests on US campuses, these were already a tradition in Europe but were almost unprecedented in America.
His outsider status provided an excellent opportunity for an objective evaluation of US culture at the end of the 1960's. Unfortunately his rambling tale was too superficial to really capture the moods, atmosphere, and dynamics of this period of social change. Other films like "The Strawberry Statement", "Getting Straight", "Joe", "Medium Cool", and "Gimme Shelter" are far better time capsules.
Antonioni's screenplay (if it can be called that) is more an excuse for filming lots of ordinary things in extraordinary ways. You don't ever forget his heroine's smile as she fantasies about blowing up her lover's luxury house, with slow motion images of our materialistic society being blown over the desert. All this to the Pink Floyd's "Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up"; a retooled "Careful With That Axe Eugene".
Antonioni was probably trying to tell us something with his film, maybe that positive change is an internal attitude thing and that violence is not the way to change the system. In 1971 the obvious message was that it was irresponsible to run away or dropout from even an extremely decadent society, that once you get your own head together the responsible thing is to return and change the system with a positive example, even if it gets you killed.