Review of Z for Zachariah (1984) by Manny C — 05 Sep 2015

Its the end of the world by way of nuclear Armageddon and there seems to be only three people left alive. Z For Zachariah, adapted with a loose and lyrical touch by director Craig Zobel and screenwriter Nissar Modi from a 1974 novel from children's author Robert C. O'Brien. This is a film hunting bigger game than standard melodrama. It's a film that asks what becomes of humanity when almost no one else is looking. Like Fox's The Last Man On Earth, but not so goofy.

There is still God. Ann (an amazing Margot Robbie) is a farm girl whose home in a valley has been left mostly intact. Ann is a staunch believer as well as a survivor, with her dog Faro to keep her company. She roams the deserted valley, with its self-contained weather system, raising farm animals and raiding a local store for what's left of food (all in a beautiful landscape shot exquisitely in New Zealand by Tim Orr). Ann's reading list includes farming instructions, religious books for kids and books by Billy Graham. Of the kids books in her possession, there is one called A Is For Adam, first in a series that will never see its conclusion with Z For Zachariah.

And then Ann spies a man by the side of the road. He's covered in protective gear, a remnant of what he helped create in a research lab. The man is Loomis (the superb Chiwetel Ejiofor), a black man (he's a white man in the novel) who has faith in science rather than divinity. Still, he and Ann form a bond after she aids him after a nearly deadly bath in radiated steam. Is it possible these two can re-populate the world? No easy answer to that since sex is on the table, but Loomis isn't interested in rushing things. The better question is whether Loomis' controlling power games---and maybe his murderous past--can make it past Ann's defenses.

Loomis wishes to use the wood from a church, built by Ann's father, to build a windmill powered by hydroelectricity that can sustain them both. She refuses, and here is where the film brings in a character not originally in the novel. That would be Caleb, a God-fearing mine worker played by Capt. Kirk himself, Chris Pine. Suddenly, questions of race come into play, along with the pain of loneliness and spiritual crisis. 'You can all be white people together,' a fed up Loomis intones barely masking his disdain against this newcomer. What will become of these two Adams and one Eve?

These three actors are all aces, and Zobel, as he did in 2012's riveting, mind-bending Compliance, nails every script nuance. No spoilers necessary about the outcome which brings up provocative questions about saving the human race and planet. The problems of three little people amount to a great deal in this insane world. It's a hell of a movie.