Lets
face it, the future surely won’t be utopian, like in Star Trek, and most likely won’t be dystopian as in 1984 (although some days you have to
wonder). Chances are, it will just sort of be topian, as it is now. However,
Craig Zobel puts his chips on a radioactive post-apocalyptic future in his
adaptation of Robert C. O’Brien’s young adult novel Z for Zachariah (clip here), which screens during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
One
by one, Ann Burden’s family members left the safety of their self-contained
valley looking for survivor, eventually leaving her with only the family dog
for company. One day, Loomis, a scientist in a heavy radiation suit staggers
into the sheltered ecosystem. However, just when he thinks he has found an
unspoiled Eden, Loomis contaminates himself in a stream fed from an outside
source. With the help of his meds, Burden slowly nurses him back to health. He
appears to be the companion she has long prayed for, but his scientific
materialism is somewhat at odds with her rugged Christian faith.
Nevertheless,
mutual attraction steadily percolates between them, until it is interrupted by
the arrival of another stranger. On paper, Caleb the former coalminer would be
a better match for Burden because of their shared values, but she is surprisingly
frustrated by Loomis’s passive reaction to his potential rival. At least an
additional set of hands can help build Loomis’s proposed hydroelectric generator,
but then what?
Perversely,
screenwriter Nissar Modi removes everything that was distinctive and
challenging about the novel written by the Mrs.
Frisbee and the Rats of NIMH author Robert Leslie Conley under the O’Brien pseudonym,
replacing it with a shopworn post-apocalyptic love triangle. Since Caleb was
Modi’s creation, he could have at least made him more interesting. However, the
watering down of the pitched struggle between Burden’s traditional values and
Loomis’s scientific fanaticism is real loss. Frankly, one would have thought
that was what attracted Compliance helmer
Zobel to the project in the first place.
Still,
Z is notable in one respect. It makes
a major career statement for Margot Robbie, in a radical departure from her
sexpot roles. It is a sensitive performance that presents Burden’s faith in a
respectful manner, while also convincingly portraying the slow awakening of her
long dormant sexuality. As usual, Chiwetel Ejiofor exudes wounded dignity as
the new and improved Loomis, but evidently Chris Pine has seen as many
apocalyptic films as the rest of us have, because he just looks bored out of
his mind as Caleb.
