A Zed and Two Noughts

There is a lot that could be said about Peter Greenaway’s film A Zed and Two Noughts (1985). The film is very complex and could be read in many ways. The scenes that I kept coming back to were the scenes in the theater, where one of the brothers was watching the David Attenborough documentaries. The inclusion of the documentary footage and the accompanying narration from Attenborough provide an interesting feel to the film. The footage from the popular documentary, and the character’s obsession with it, points to the human fascination with documenting natural phenomena and viewing the natural world for pleasure and entertainment.

The character takes comfort in watching the nature documentaries after the death of his wife, and he quickly becomes obsessed with viewing them. The character turns to these films in his grief, films that tell of the origin of life on our planet. The life/death theme is one of the many major binary oppositions visible in the film, and it is interesting that the film references nature films in this way. Nature documentaries are often intended to inform and educate as they entertain. They provide the viewer with an understanding of the natural world around them. By documenting nature and then putting it on display for ourselves we assert our dominance over the natural world. By gaining an understanding of nature, we demystify it and allow ourselves to feel like we have some semblance of control over the world we live in.

The documentary footage and narration in A Zed and Two Noughts lend the film a somewhat documentary-like tone. The film focuses on the unraveling lives of several people as they adapt to new circumstances in the wake of a tragic accident. These characters are bizarre, yet fascinating. We watch movies for entertainment, and they need to have amusing subjects for us to be intrigued enough to watch. A Zed and Two Noughts provides the interesting subjects and shows us a glimpse of their strange world. Nature documentaries attempt to do the same thing. Humans have always been fascinated by the incredible world that we live in, and we are always trying to capture its essence in our attempts to understand it. Film gives humans the ability to shape our own world according to our distinct views and purposes. Unfortunately, our views are often skewed and misdirected. It is important to remember there is more to the natural world than meets the eye, and that nature itself can be cruel and unpredictable. It is doubtful that man will ever truly understand the complexities of life in the world around us, but our fascination with nature continues.