ZPG: Zero Population Growth (1972)

Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin star in this dystopian vision of things to come. Under the weight of overpopulation, human society has begun to self-destruct. A policy of Zero Population Growth is forced upon citizens in hopes that twenty years without new births will right the sinking ship that is our planet. Couples are issued dolls to take the place of children, and neighbors are encouraged to speak out about any illicit breeding. Reed and Chaplin play a couple that make the decision to subvert the will of the government and have a child of their own. They're soon forced to hide their crime from big brother, baby-snatchers and even those they had trusted most. Zero Population Growth follows in the tradition of Logan's Run and Soylent Green in making it endlessly entertaining to watch a world that we wouldn't want to live in. Product Description

zpg

even though this film predates Logans Run and THX 1138 it still is a thoughtful and well done film for it's small budget. No matter what people say it's great to see any film with Oliver Reed in it. An actor who wasn't well known in the states. Oliver makes it worth watching. Now if only somebody would release "THESE ARE THE DAMNED" and "HANNEBAL BROOKS" you would make my day. July 27, 2008

Interesting Precursor to "Children of Men"

Set in a dystopian future, Z.P.G. ("Zero Population Growth") tells the Malthusian tale of a world where the planet's natural resources have been consumed to such a critical level that the "World Federation Council" puts a 30-year ban on childbirth in the hopes of curbing the drain. All pre-edict children are marked, and any births after nine months of the edict result in the summary execution of the lawbreaking parents and their offspring. Throughout the smog-filled landscape, desperate people watch for errant infants they can turn in for extra food or oxygen.

In the world of Z.P.G., people spend their free time going to museums where they can see stuffed house pets, demonstrations of how gasoline was used to fuel vehicles, and films of forgotten relics like lakes and streams. Deprived of children, they also turn to technology for comfort. We first meet Russell McNeil (Oliver Reed, displaying none of his usual screen presence) and his wife Carol (Geraldine Chaplin) at Baby Land, a retail store where adults buy surrogate robot children that are creepy as heck as they slowly amble across the floor chanting, "You're my mummy!"

And while births are forbidden, that doesn't mean sex is discouraged. The government even passes out pornography, and state-funded psychiatrists are on call to encourage good behavior. Unfortunately, post-coitus a woman must check for conception, and she presses a handy-dandy "abort" button if such a misfortune has taken place. Kind of takes the fun out of it.

Eventually Carol can't take it anymore, and she insists on having a child. She's surprised by how supportive Russell is. They come up with an elaborate scheme to hide the child, keeping Carol in a concealed room like Anne Frank. It's only when Carol screws up by taking the baby out for an emergency clandestine doctor appointment that the McNeils' secret is discovered. Rather than turning them in, neighbors George and Edna Bordon (Don Gordon and Diane Cilento) blackmail them into sharing parenting with the baby. Eventually the Bordons want the child more and more to themselves, putting the McNeils in quite a quandary.

A response to Paul R. Erlich's 1968 The Population Bomb, Z.P.G. feels like a cross between THX-1138 and Logan's Run. Moreover, it's certain that some of the ideas in the film inspired PD James for her novel Children of Men. Written by Max Erlich and Frank De Felitta, this Scandinavian production has a nice look to it courtesy of director Michael Campus (The Mack), but even with the scope of its screenplay doesn't have enough story to sustain the running time. June 25, 2008

Good for it's time.

I had this movie on VHS and was glad to finally see it released on DVD. By the way, once this movie was released on June 3rd I searched and I could not find this film anywhere in stores or online except at Amazon.com.
If you like sci-fi movies from the late sixties to the mid-seventies you should like this one. It is not an action/sci-fi film, but the story line is good and acting excellent, especially by veteran actor Don Gordon who you may have seen in a couple of the original Outer limits TV series episodes(1963-64). Oliver Reed's acting was great also. I give it 4 stars rather than 5 only because I wished they had made the android child a little more realistic and maybe a longer role in the movie. But then again this was 1972. Some may say this is a sleeper movie, that it may be. But if you can relax and enjoy an arty, thoughtful and atmospheric sci-fi film like I can, then this one is great and I recommend it! June 12, 2008

Brilliant, but need it on DVD!

A truly amazing film for lovers of 70's apocolyptic sci-fi. The movie is a must-see for everyone who relishes end-of-the-world, Soylent Green-esque environmental disaster films. Plus, who couldn't love the creepy psychiatrist and the baby-simulacra. One thing, WE NEED THIS ON DVD! November 10, 2003

Retro Futurism at it's bleakest

I loved this movie and can't really see what was so awful about it. There are times when movies are given the B rating and people seem to just go along with that. I thought Oliver was fab and that the story was sufficiently Retro Futuristic, A'la 70's style, to totally hook me when I first saw it on late night TV in the early 80's.

I loved the staging and the sets, right down to the funky white (read for sterile) outfits and the sociological fly on the wall insight into the lives of the two protagonists desperate to enrich their seemingly emtpy lives/failing relationship by breaking the ultimate taboo. I guess in many ways I was primed for this kind of thing by reading lots of Ray Bradbury growing up and I adored the stark funky realism of the whole gas and curfew thing!

Let me simply say that if you have an Arty eye towards Sci-Fi and the sociological, loved films like Soylent Green and Farenheit 451 then this movie will not dissapoint you! I loved it and I think *getting it* is what this movie requires from the viewer. July 4, 2002

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