In the late 23rd century, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.
In 2293, Zardoz--an unseen "God" who speaks through an idol, a large stone statue of a head--leads a barbaric race called the Brutals, who live a harsh existence in the Outlands. Zardoz tells the Brutals that once they die, they will be transported to the Vortex, where they will live happily as Immortals. He has armed a small group, the Exterminators, with guns, as Zardoz's philosophy is that killing is good, and procreation is the root of all that is bad. In reality, Zardoz is Arthur Frayn, from a competing, more advanced race called "the Eternals", who live in paradise in the Vortex. The Eternals truly are immortal as they do not age and their bodies undergo reconstruction if they "die". They truly do not believe in procreation as their society has reached perfect equilibrium. Past human acts such as sex and sleep are obsolete in their advanced state. All major decisions are achieved through pure democracy. The Eternals, however, are not immune to non-life-threatening disease or sin; the latter is punishable by aging, only making their life less pleasant, but not ever killing them. Arthur's mission as Zardoz is to control, monitor, and study the Brutals for the Eternals. Being in the Outlands, Arthur is isolated without communication back to the Vortex and the Eternals. In his work as an Exterminator, Zed is accidentally able to find his way to the Vortex as a still-alive being. The Eternals vote to keep Zed alive temporarily so that they can study him before they kill him. Among the Eternals who have direct interactions with Zed are: May, the lead scientist, who believes Zed is a blessing in that they have not had access to a Brutal in some time; Friend, a hedonist who wants to use Zed as the animal he considers him to be; and Consuela, the hard-lined one who believes in vigilante justice. In the Eternals' access to Zed, they might learn whether his making it to the Vortex was indeed an accident--and their so-called Utopian society might be exposed for what it truly is.—Huggo
In the distant future, Earth is divided into two camps, the barely-civilized group and the overly-civilized one with mental powers. A plague is attacking the second group, after which its members cease to have any interest in life and become nearly catatonic. When Zed, one of the barbarians, crosses over, the tenuous balance in their world is threatened.—John Vogel <[email protected]>
Brutals are told that when they die they will go to the vortex, where the Eternals live immortally. Zed, an Exterminator-class brutal who worships the stone head Zardoz, comes upon an old library where a mysterious stranger teaches him how to read. When he finds a copy of a well-known book, he sets out to learn the secret of the god he worships, and disrupts life in the vortex.—Scott Hutchins <[email protected]>
Zed is a exterminator, a savage warrior living in a post-apocalyptic future world. Like all exterminators, Zed worships a stone head called Zardoz as a god. Zardoz promises all those who worship that when they die, they will go to the Vortex, a community inhabited by immortal men and women. Zed finds himself in Zardoz's mouth and Zardoz arrives in the Vortex. Zed's arrival in the Vortex begins to cause disruption, as Zed sets out to discover the secrets of Zardoz. Where Zed encounters a stranger named Arthur Frayn in a library and Arthur teaches Zed to read and reveals Zardoz's secrets, which could bring about the fall of all life in The Vortex and lead Zed to giving the Immortals the gift of death.—Daniel Williamson
The story opens with a speech made by Arthur Frayn/Zardoz (Niall Buggy) who states that he is immortal. He explains that this story "may" happen in the future. He is a "fake god" and a magician. But he is invented too, asking if the viewers of the movie themselves are part of a fiction. He asks "Is God in show business too?"
In the year 2293, the world is divided into two groups: the Brutals, and the Eternals. The Brutals live harsh and violent lives, farming crops and eking out a bare existence among the ruins of civilization, known as the Outlands. Elite among the Brutals are the Exterminators, men who have been raised to control the population by killing undesirables. These Exterminators are shown riding around on horses, worshiping a giant floating head-- the idol of their god, Zardoz. Instead of telling the faithful to be fruitful and multiply, Zardoz explains that sex is evil and that "the penis shoots seeds and makes new life to poison the earth with a plague of men." He commands the Exterminators to "go forth and kill." In furtherance of this divine decree, guns and bullets come pouring out of the mouth of Zardoz. Zed (Sean Connery) takes one of the guns, a Webley-Fosbery semi-automatic revolver, and fires it toward the camera. Beethoven's Seventh Symphony plays as the head floats through the air over opening credits.
Inside the stone head, there are piles of grain and potatoes, as well as several Eternals, naked, sealed in plastic, and apparently in a state of suspended animation. Zed has managed to stow away aboard the head, hiding beneath one of the piles of grain. Suddenly he notices Arthur Frayn, whom he instinctively shoots. Arthur, wounded perhaps fatally, floats out of the head yelling "without me you are nothing... how pointless!"
The head lands "over the rainbow," so to speak, in the land of the Eternals-- Vortex Four, to be precise. Exploring the surroundings, Zed finds what looks like a farming community with hydroponically grown vegetables, a mill and bakery as well as stables. Entering the second floor of the greenhouse, he finds a room decorated with diagrams of evolution, signs of the zodiac, a shrine to Zardoz and a jack-in-the-box. Zed hears a disembodied male voice, the source of which is shown to be a crystal ring. When Zed shakes the ring, a hologram appears that depicts the agricultural needs of the various areas in the Vortex; what they require and what they have produced in surplus. The ring responds to Zed's verbal commands by showing him images. When he asks "Who lives here," he is startled to see Arthur Frayn's face appear in the room, announcing his name and vortex number. Zed can hear people talking outside and slips out of the house. He sneaks around outside and watches as a group of Eternals carry the plastic-wrapped bodies on stretchers, disappearing into a pyramid that looks too small to contain them. He sees his first flower and asks the crystal ring what it is. The voice explains that it is a flower whose purpose is "decorative." Zed finds a river and washes his face as a female Eternal approaches. He tries to shoot her but the woman uses telepathy to blind Zed momentarily. She's obviously intrigued to see a Brutal in the Vortex and asks him how he arrived there and where he thinks he is. He replies that he thinks he is in the Vortex where, according to Zardoz, you go when you die. She explains the only way he could have gotten here is through the stone head but Zed will not divulge any further details, nor is the woman able to extract this information by reading his mind, which she attributes to possible shock he may have sustained.
The woman, a scientist named May (Sara Kestelman) consults the Tabernacle, a type of artificial intelligence that oversees all activity within the Vortex, to learn the whereabouts of Arthur Frayn, who was delegated to manage the Outlands, which he did by pretending to be the god Zardoz. The Tabernacle shows Arthur Frayn's accident falling from the stone head and indicates that Frayn died and is in the process of being reincarnated, but it won't show May the final moments before Arthur's death. May argues with another community leader named Consuella (Charlotte Rampling) about what should be done with Zed. May wants to keep Zed alive so that they can study him-- he is the first Brutal who has ever infiltrated the Vortex. However Consuella views Zed as little more than a dangerous animal-- a threat to the stability of their society who should be put down as soon as possible.
The women decide to put the matter to a vote. They call a meeting and connect Zed to an apparatus that displays his thoughts on a screen. The other Eternals want to see his memories. Their society has gradually evolved to become asexual and anhedonic, and they find the images of Zed and the other Exterminators raping and killing Brutals in the Outlands both repulsive and arousing. After debating the pro's and cons of performing research on "the monster," the majority of Eternals, bored and curious, vote telepathically to spare Zed's life, at least for three weeks.
A cynical Eternal named Friend (John Alderton) takes on the task of babysitting Zed. Once they're alone, he attempts to use telepathy to force Zed to reveal where Arthur Frayn is. When Zed thwarts this attempt, Friend assures Zed that he and Arthur were close confidants and he knows more about whatever Arthur was planning than Zed thinks.
Zed continues to play dumb as Friend employs his services to stack and organize priceless works of art in the Vortex's cultural archive and to cart Friend around on a wagon while he delivers bread to the needy. First they stop by a colony of outcasts called Renegades. These are Eternals who, through boredom, malice or discontent, repeatedly violated the rule of law and as a result were punished by being aged, gradually, into senility. They will spend eternity in feeble-minded old age. The next group they visit are the Apathetics. These Eternals stand around staring blankly in a catatonic, vegetative state, having lost the will to live but, like the Renegades and all other Eternals, unable to die. Friend tells Zed that this is the main reason Brutals are now forced to farm crops for Zardoz-- someone needs to feed these unproductive members of Eternal society. Death is an impossibility in the Vortex because anyone who kills himself is simply reincarnated by the Tabernacle.
Zed witnesses the final statements in the trial of an Eternal named George Saden (Bosco Hogan), who pleads innocence at first but eventually reveals his bitter contempt for the law and his fellow Eternals. Friend votes to have George acquitted but he is outvoted by the rest of the Eternals, who sentence George to be aged five years. "Welcome to paradise," quips Friend.
Zed is put on display again while Consuella gives a lecture on Brutals' sexual response. She shows Zed a series of pornographic images to see if he will get an erection. The movies do not stimulate him but just looking at Consuella does. This seems to embarrass her as well as arouse her slightly. Zed is placed in a cage among the rest of the animals in the Vortex. Consuella tests his reflexes and asks him why he likes to sleep. He says he likes it because he has dreams. The Eternals do not dream, having achieved "total consciousness." Now "second level meditation" takes the place of sleep.
May then begins to analyze Zed, explaining that he is a second or third generation mutant, and therefore genetically stable. She is shocked to discover that from an evolutionary standpoint, Zed is actually superior to the Eternals in most ways. This confirms her suspicions that Arthur has been amusing himself in the Outlands by selectively breeding certain Brutals over the course of generations to create genetically advanced humans such as Zed. While this indicates that Zed is indeed more of a threat than even Consuella suspected, May hesitates to kill him. "For the sake of science," she will keep his secret as long as he follows her orders and doesn't draw attention to himself.
At lunch, Zed's presence continues to disrupt the community. Another psychic vote is taken as to his fate and it is decided that May has a week to complete her scientific study of Zed. The Eternals propose to meditate upon the idea that "the monster is a mirror, and when we look at him, we look at our own hidden faces." Friend refuses to go to second level with the group, thus disrupting their tranquility. Resisting the group's mind control, he states that the Vortex is an obscenity and that he hates all women, birth and fertility. Friend is considered to be beyond redemption and sentenced to be exiled among the Renegades.
While the Eternals are meditating, Zed runs out to the periphery shield of Vortex Four. He can see some Exterminators over the mountain and gets their attention. Zed then goes to the Renegade colony to find Friend. Friend, who has been artificially aged, tells the other Renegades that this creature from the outside world has the gift of death, and that they should kill Zed before May can use him to propagate another doomed generation of Eternals. The elders start to attack Zed, but he easily fends them off. Friend tells Zed that he craves death not just for himself and the Vortex but all human life on Earth. Zed scoffs at Friend's nihilistic attitude, concluding: "You stink of despair."
Zed asks Friend where he can find the Tabernacle and how he can destroy it. Friend can't remember, having become senile. One of the Renegades advises Zed to seek May, whom he finds in a state of second level meditation, already knowing his intent. Zed says that he wants the truth and when May insists that he must give truth to get it, he allows May to read his mind. We see flashbacks of Zed hunting and killing Brutals, until one day he "loses his innocence." He follows a figure in a mask who leads him into a library and begins to teach Zed to read. Zed, whose intellect is more advanced than the Eternals, rapidly learns about the history of the world before its destruction. Eventually Zed reads a book called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which reveals to him the fictitious basis of Zardoz, a deity invented by Frayn purely to control the Brutals.
After learning that Zardoz did not exist, Zed resolved to hide aboard the stone head and make his way into the Vortex to find the truth. As Zed's memories conclude, May feels sexuality stirring within her, a result of her prolonged physical contact with Zed. They embrace, only to be interrupted by Consuella who accuses May of bestiality and suggests that May be aged fifty years. Consuella uses telepathy on Zed, blinding him, but he still manages to overpower her physically. Consuella declares that the entire community will now be contaminated with his animal instincts to hunt and kill. An Eternal named Avalow (Sally Anne Newton) restores his sight with her powers. She indicates that Zed is "the one.. the liberator." Avalow explains that as the world fell to ruin, the rich and powerful classes salvaged what art, culture and technology they could and erected an impenetrable shield around their oasis of civilization to protect it from the encroaching Dark Age. Unfortunately, they had to turn their backs callously on the rest of humanity, eventually coming to regard the people on the other side of the shield as a separate and inferior race of Brutals.
Zed, she says, is the price they are paying, having brought hate and anger into the Vortex to infect them all. Suddenly, Zed is attacked by other Eternals. He escapes, runs out to the periphery shield of Vortex Four and starts signaling instructions to the band of Exterminators posted on the other side. While hiding from Consuella and her followers in the area where the Apathetics are consigned, Zed's life-force awakens them.
The Exterminators storm the Vortex and all hell breaks loose. The Apathetics regain their emotions and libido and engage in sex and murder. The Renegades leave their colony and run amok, while the ordinarily law-abiding Eternals, led by Consuella, continue to hunt for Zed. Friend finds Zed and takes him to May.
May asks Zed to inseminate them all (the only Eternals interested in surviving coincidentally all seem to be female) and they will teach him all they know, in the hope that he can use this knowledge to destroy the Tabernacle. They "touch teach" him through osmosis and he gifts them with his super-sperm. The phrase "The Law of the Unity of Opposites" is repeated several times. Different languages and music are transmitted. Finally he knows everything they know. Zed asks how the Vortex came about. Friend responds that it was designed by scientists, most of whom were middle-aged at the time of its creation and are now Renegades due to their inability to tolerate immortality. They used their power to erase any memory of the Tabernacle or how to destroy it so that the human race would evolve to perfection. They intended for their children to inherit this legacy. But by eliminating death, they arrested the natural cycles of change and renewal that allow progress, leading to their current stagnant and hopeless predicament.
A voice calls Zed and he is beckoned through a series of mannequin figures to find the rebuilt Arthur Frayn dressed in a top hat. Frayn quotes T.S. Eliot and prompts Zed to fill in the poem-- it is "I am Lazarus, come from the dead. Come back to tell you all. I shall tell you all." He holds a mysterious clear glass ball that he tells Zed to examine. It becomes a faceted crystal. Consuella finds Zed, but when she tries to kill him, she realises that she's lost the urge. She says "In hunting you, I have become you." Zed quotes Nietzsche, "He who fights too long against dragons, becomes a dragon himself."
Zed asks the Tabernacle where it is but it won't provide any answers, having been programmed to protect itself. Finally Zed realizes that it must be housed in the crystal he holds in his hand. The Tabernacle admits that Zed's solved the puzzle and allows him access to its inner dimensions, which look like a hall of mirrors. Zed sees holographic images of the Eternals whose minds all connect with the Tabernacle. Zed fires his gun at one of the reflections. The crystal bleeds and tells him that he has destroyed it / them, "we are gone." The Eternals begin to rampage through their cultural archive, destroying pieces of art in their frenzied pursuit of Zed. Zed now has a powerful aura which he uses to move some Eternals back through time to preserve the art they smashed. Friend asks Zed what is next. Zed says the oldest Renegade will know.
The old man remembers the way it was. The Vortex is an offense against nature -- which is why nature made Zed. The old man dies. The stone head crashes to the ground. Death has returned to the Vortex. May and the rest of Zed's baby-mamas form a caravan and leave the Vortex to start over somewhere else. The Renegades die of old age. Arthur brags that he was the one who came up with the idea of breeding Zed, but Zed says he has looked into the force that put the idea in Arthur's mind: "We've all been used." The Exterminators roam the Vortex killing Eternals who beg to die. Zed runs away with Consuella to take shelter in the remains of the stone head.
Beethoven's 7th symphony plays again as the Vortex falls. Consuella is pregant and gives birth. The child grows into a man and leaves his parents. Zed and Consuella grow old together and die.
