The penalty for birth is death!
1972’s ZPG: Zero Population Growth, perhaps the most “forgotten” of our recent “forgotten films” of the 1970s list, hits DVD shelves tomorow. While there are no extra features, it’s widescreen formatted for Region 1 and affordably priced at $14.95 MSRP.
The story is a bleak tale of government and societal oppression: in an attempt to counteract massive pollution and overpopulation, a twenty-year ban on new births has left the world effectively childless. Couples are given dolls to care for in lieu of children, and homes include abortion machines as standard appliances. But a married couple played by Oliver Reed (Gladiator) and Geraldine Chaplin (Doctor Zhivago) decide to have a child in defiance of the law. When they’re turned into the police state by jealous neighbors, they must escape certain execution for their crime of starting a family.
It’s probably best to compare the film to Soylent Green and Logan’s Run, though ZPG almost certainly doesn’t measure up to those classics. Still, Reed and Chaplin are no slouches in the acting department, and completists may enjoy adding the film to their collection.
- Michael Kabel
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