Overrated

Better Late Then Never

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The highlight of this film for fanatical leftists is the appearance of Kathleen Cleaver at the beginning of the film. For normal people there are no highlights, just an example of self indulgence by a filmmaker who's success at making non-plot driven films got to his head. Even die hard fans of Pink Floyd will be disappointed at how the music is used for plotless meander.

They must worked hard to promote this production, it's still available. Apparently, minds behind this project tried to tell us something but the fruit falls far from the tree.If they wanted to create an anti-system (i think "capitalism" in this case) message and influence people, they sure managed to do exact opposite.But what can you do? There are billions of human around the world and being a pretentious, self-righteous hippi director is always free of charge. Speaking of this movie, it seems that they even awarded him with enough money and production opportunity.Don't even have a thought about watching this hippi crap with lame messages.Shame to everybody , who especially have role to produce that earth-orgy scene.

First seen in the eighties with mixed feelings I could never forget this film. I had to see it again and this time it almost blew me away.This first and only Antonioni movie set in the United States starts with a remarkable discussion among students about revolution to be followed by student riots at university campus with one student and one cop shot dead. The air in these scenes is full of vibrations from the flower power era.After this introduction it becomes the story of two young people (part time student suspect of cop murder and part time secretary) who are looking for a little more in life than serving the dollar. They flee the city into the desert out of different motivations (adventure versus meditation) and by different means (stolen airplane versus secretly borrowed car), meet in the desert half by chance (great scene with his airplane 'attacking' her car), enjoy each other's company, explore the desert landscape (peaceful versus dead), smoke a joint, love each other and split. Back in the city, the boy is shot dead by the police for steeling the airplane. The girl, when hearing this on the radio, is full of grief and hatred against a world that allows such things to happen. She tries to return into civilization (a modern villa in the middle of the desert) but cannot stand it and has the villa explode when fleeing from it. This seems to do the trick in consoling her wounded soul. End of the story.This offbeat story comes along with a great soundtrack and a highly aesthetic camera work by Carlo Ponti, intriguing shots from the LA city landscape followed by beautiful pictures from the desert. However, what is the meaning of all this? As usual, it is up to each viewer to find his best personal interpretation. Let me give mine here briefly: The film shows a certain sympathy for revolution but it is not very optimistic about it. Paradise has been lost long ago and there is no way back. It is like the swan song for the hippie slogan 'Make love not war'. Sure, the boy is probably a rebel by nature and maybe he is even a little criminal, but does he really deserve this poor ending? Despite this maybe too negative interpretation, the movie is still likable for the simple fact that Mark and Daria, the two protagonists, make such a wonderful and beautiful couple. They share the same kind of thoughts and the same kind of humour. They even complement each other in having surrealistic dialogues. It is just a pleasure to see how much they enjoy each other's company and how naturally they make love with each other. To me this is very convincing, so how can it be bad acting as other comments suggest.Also on the plus side, the movie is, as mentioned before, full of surreal dialogues like the one phone call by Rod Taylor that starts with a good-bye and ends with a hello or Daria's notion that so anyway should be one word to make it a possible name for the Soanyway River. For anyone who likes that kind of stuff be assured that there is some more of it.At certain points, the movie is leaving the outside narrative pattern and crawls into the perception of the characters. This accounts for the two probably most famous scenes in the movie: the free love scene in the desert with countless naked bodies making love on the rocks of Zabriskie point and the house explosion scene at the end, shown in slow motion from different angles. These subjective realities are the result of cannabis consumption on the one hand and of wishful thinking coming out of despair on the other hand.So for anyone, who is looking for some kind of different movie, try this. Be assured that it will not leave you indifferent.

it could be, in same measure, an experiment and a masterpiece. a honest confession and a manifesto. at first sigh, picture of a generation sense search, it is not only a legendary title or a revolutionary piece but its importance remains in its universal message. a film about love, hate and romanticism out of classical stereotypes. a couple and a project. revolution as puzzle. and purity as usual victim. the mixture between emotion and cold reflection is its basic virtue. a film about "70's spirit who can be about present days. because the scene,the precision of Antonion to reflect essence of a sick society is the same. only the desert becomes to far.