Z for Zachariah

So, I went back and forth between 2 and 3 stars on this film. On the one hand, its "two men are rivals for the last woman on earth" plot is not exactly fresh or original. And it is quite slow paced. And the symbolism that one of the two is a man of science while the other is a man of faith is rather heavy-handed and obvious. On the other hand, it has some lovely cinematography and all three members of the cast deliver good performances. So I was torn, at least until I read a synopsis of the novel on which it is based. The book of Z for Zachariah, you see, makes Ann its main character, and introduces only one man into her life. A scientist named Loomis who rapidly becomes domineering and demanding. Every time Ann tries to compromise and share the valley as separate individuals, he tries to browbeat and control her. Ultimately, her only option for safety is to leave. So in other words the writers of the film took a female-led story with obvious themes about abusive and controlling relationships ... and made it all about the men. Even though they had to add a man to the story to do it. Sigh.

I remembering anally studying the writing of the author word for word, sentence structure, genre, inch by inch of Year 12 English for novels. Back then I found the book extremely boring. The movie in essence is a lot better than the book, it gives more suspense than the writer could give in writing the book.

From a short way into the movie I was feeling let down. I was expecting the movie to be the same story as the book but it was completely different. It was also incredibly slow moving and almost too boring to watch. I remember the book was more intense.