When Michelangelo Antonioni decided to make his first film away from his native Italy, he did so in London in the middle of the swinging sixties, at a time when the music of the British Invasion was at the height of its influence. Blow-Up (1966) would become the most successful art-house movie of its day and part of the reason for this was that London was the centre of western culture at that moment and the film benefited considerably from surfing that particular wave. So it maybe seemed logical that for his next movie Antonioni would travel to the west coast of America, which by the later 60's had taken the baton from London and was the home of the counter-culture and the new home of all that was cutting edge. The result was Zabriskie Point and it would not only be the only film Antonioni would make in America but also, unlike Blow-Up, a critical and commercial disaster. It was a movie that could only have been made when it was, given that at the time the Hollywood studios were throwing huge sums of money at director-driven art films in an attempt to tap into the counter-culture audience who had shown such an appetite for such left-field fayre in the late 60's. It was the time of New Hollywood and, strange as it seems now, films the likes of Zabriskie Point were par for the course for a short while.In the event, despite all of the above, Zabriskie Point met with hostility seemingly. It was seen as a poorly acted, tedious, silly and self-indulgent fiasco. To be honest, all of Antonioni's films are an acquired taste really, and this one is no different in this respect. Zabriskie Point is quite similar in overall tone and approach to much of his other work but the counter-cultural setting is what sets it apart so jarringly. It's true that it does have a very loose, slow-paced story and awkward dialogue but story has never been Antonioni's main focus and this film is no different. What it is, is a wonderfully strange and visually incredible bit of cinema. The cinematography is frankly stunning throughout with the widescreen compositions a continual delight. The almost documentary-style opening, by contrast, is at odds with the visually spectacular approach used in the rest of the film. This scene thrusts us into the midst of a meeting of student political activists and has a very real feel for these dynamic times. The themes of the story in general looks at the then very current issue of American youth vs the establishment and it does capture the spirit of the counterculture in its admittedly odd way. It almost feels a little prophetic too with its essentially pessimistic story mirroring the reality that the counter-culture was about to come crashing down not long after its release.But perhaps Zabriskie Point is celebrated mostly these days for two things in particular – its soundtrack and its famously explosive finale. The former is a pretty cutting edge selection of music from the likes of Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison, amongst others. In particular the use of 'Careful with that Axe, Eugene' by Pink Floyd in the celebrated explosion sequence is an especially phenomenal combination of sound and vision. This incredible extended sequence is justifiable revered and in all honesty is worth the price of admission alone. And for those who complain about its meaning being 'too obvious', all I can ask is what's wrong with an obvious point when it's delivered so well? This scene is the wishful imaginings of the character Daria as she wills the destruction of the material world of her corporate boss, the other time in the film where we are treated to the inner thoughts of the character's minds on screen is where the barren landscape of the desert suddenly becomes populated by countless young naked people in a mass scene of free love. Again, this is another aesthetically beautiful sequence and another string to Zabriskie Point's bow. We also have a psychedelic aeroplane that dive-bombs really dangerously low, lots of focus on billboards and adverts (that were no doubt intended as a critical view then but look really interesting now, many years later), there's epic scenery, a beautiful young hippy couple and a backdrop of a city rife with police brutality. There will never be another time quite as evocative as late 60's west coast America, it's an endlessly fascinating period full of incident, hope, despair and with a genuinely vibrant new culture playing out in the background. Zabriskie Point is a misunderstood gem of a film that taps into all of these things with the added bonus that it is by the hand of one of the cinematic visual masters of his day. I love this film and always will.

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 was not long after the release of Zabriskie Point that the 'counterculture' of the late 1960s died out, for many reasons, too long to visit in this review. Zabriskie Point is highly symbolic and Antonioni had some premonition of the shape of things to come. It was a time of free love (in some circles), a hope for positive change, an awakening to the degradation of the environment, an awareness of the dismissal of history and local culture, transforming all into a decultured, materialistic mainstream. It also is reminiscent of the films "If…", and "The Ruling Class", a comment of the British class society, not dissimilar their basic conceptual foundations.The film was not perfect by all means, after all, how did Mark know how to fly. There are other non-sequiturs, but then, the film is rooted in the imagination, but with a reference to Cinéma vérité. We should appreciate Zabriskie Point as a sign of those times, and is still highly relevant in its ideas, despite its hopeful romanticism.It is beautifully shot in the desert landscape, and contrasts well with the smog filled atmosphere of sprawling LA.I saw this film in the 70s and admit to only partially understanding it at the time, though its images have always stayed with me. Today, on playing the Rockstar game GTA V (Grand Theft Auto V), virtually travelling through those landscapes made me wish to revisit the film which I was able to view on YouTube once more. GTA takes us into the desert once more, and also looks at the same issues that underpin Zabriskie Point and is even more iconoclastic in its approach to today's problems. No doubt the creators of GTA V take their much of their inspiration from this unusual film.

Before having seen this I had seen six other Antonioni movies ("The Passenger" being my favorite). Each of the six had some merit, so I was unprepared for this unfortunate effort.The movie starts off well enough with a fictionalized account of a student protest. I was a young man at the time of the student protests against "the establishment" in the late 1960s, and I think the specific account presented here is not far from some actual events at the time. From a distance of forty years hence, it might seem that the group discussion that opens the film among young activists arguing about tactics, and what makes one a true revolutionary, is far-fetched, but such meetings were not uncommon. I remember people I knew at the time would talk about "when the revolution comes," rather than "if the revolution comes," without any consideration of the fact that there wasn't going to be a revolution, at least not one in the style that they perceived.Once the main character, Mark, gets fed up with what he is seeing and hearing and takes off on a personal odyssey the movie leaves the realm of reality. There are too many plot holes to enumerate. Could Mark sneak onto an airport in broad daylight, appropriate a single engine plane (with the keys in it no less) and take off on his journey? And he tuns out to be a stunt pilot too? I think it can be stipulated that the movie is not concerned about appealing to the logically inclined, which does not necessarily make it a bad movie, but there is little to appeal to any frame of mind I think. The two lead actors are embarrassingly bad, even for non-professionals, and Rod Taylor gives his usual wooden performance. Maybe director Antonioni chose the unknown Mark Frechette to play the role of Mark since he has some physical and personality traits similar to Peter Fonda and Antonioni envisioned himself making his own "Easy Rider." I suppose the audience is being encouraged to identify with the free spirited and spontaneous Mark as opposed to the crass, materialistic, oppressive society that is presented, but the two extremes are drawn in such a heavy-handed manner that I felt bludgeoned by the message. Then there is the dialog that is so flat that I can't remember a single line. Apparently Sam Shepard shares some of the blame for that. There are some nude sex scenes which I guess are tossed in as a sop to the free love movement that was advanced by the counterculture of the 1960s. The scenes of young people rolling around in the desert having sex just felt odd to me. I think maybe Antonioni realized he was making a dog of a movie and some soft core porn might help at the box office. Or maybe in late middle-age this is how Antonioni contrived to be around some naked youngsters.The only positive in this for me was the beautiful cinematography of the Death Valley California landscapes. At least Antonioni's talent for the use of color is in evidence in the landscape scenes, as well as in the final explosion shots. I would have better appreciated Antonioni's making a travelogue than this thing.A good part of this movie takes place in Death Valley which contains the lowest point in the United States. This is fitting since I think this movie must also mark the lowest point in Antonioni's career.For a good understanding of the major themes of the 1960s in the United States, see the documentary "Berkeley in the Sixties."