ZPG aka Zero Population Growth(2008).
© Paramount Home Entertainment/ Legend Studios

Mania Grade: B
DVD: ZPG (Zero Population Growth)
Rating: PG
Starring: Oliver Reed, Geraldine Chaplin, Don Gordon, Diane Cilento
Written By: Frank De Felitta and Max Ehrlich
Directed By: Michael Campus
Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment/Legend Studios
Original Year of Release: 1971 (original), 2008 (DVD)
Extras: None

Buy it now!

Related Links

0

DVD Review of ZPG (Zero Population Growth)

Soylent Green, THX 1138 and Logan's Run all paint a bleak future where overpopulation has forced the government to take complete control of the world. ZPG or better known as Zero Population Growth is a lesser known film in the same genre. From the era where happy endings were as common as sequels ZPG delivers a frightening look into a world where the penalty for giving birth is death.

The plot is nothing we have not seen before. The world is bursting with people. Scientists have eliminated diseases such as cancer and heart disease. In doing so they have created a world were people live longer. The world society has mandated that for thirty years there will be no new births. Thirty years should be enough to help set the world right.

Carol (Geraldine Chaplin) and her husband Russ (Oliver Reed) go to Babyland where one can purchase a lifelike doll baby that will suffice as a substitute for having a child. After they witness a woman easily concede into loving this mechanical doll they both get out of line and decide that Babyland is not for them. Unbeknownst to Russ, Carol has not been using her abortion machine.

Eventually, she reveals to him that she is indeed pregnant.

The film from this point breaks convention and does not become a story about them hiding Carol and their baby. The plot turns to one of jealousy and envy as their neighbors and co-workers, Carol (Diane Cilento) and George (Don Gordon), learn about the baby and want to share it as if it is a new car. As if Solomon was there himself Russ and Carol have to decide whether to share their baby or face execution.

The ending, as I mentioned before, is standard for the genre. Yet, the film has many elements that many great science fiction aficionados will appreciate. The low budget is masked by smog and the universal science fiction outfit of the future. The respirator masks are an ear mark for the film and not something that has been seen before or since. Carol, Russ, George and Edna’s relationship is also unique to the genre. All portray a family in the 1971 part of a museum. By having them work at a museum adds to the story in two fold. One, it allows the audience to appreciate their own world and see the error of their modern (1970’s) ways. The second is that the museum allows them access to things their modern society could not supply them with (i.e. the means to escape).

The film isn’t anything science fiction fans haven’t seen before. If you have seen Fahrenheit 451 and Blade Runner, along with the previously mentioned films, you will appreciate some of the finer points of Zero Population Growth. The terrifying part of all of these films is how close they get to their projected future, our present, begging to ask the question, haven’t we learned anything yet?