Zero Must Equal One Hundred Percent

Ever since I first saw Brazil (1985) two or three years ago I have been a HUGE Terry Gilliam fan. It didn't take me long at all to watch Time Bandits (1981), 12 Monkies (1995), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). So back in 2013 when I heard of The Zero Theorem I was naturally very excited. A brand new Terry Gilliam movie that critics were comparing to my favorite Gilliam movie Brazil? Sign me up! Of course being the small, low budget movie that it was I couldn't see it until I bought it digitally through VHX. After finishing the movie I was quite taken aback by just how the movie did not meet expectations.

Nearly every positive review of The Zero Theorem I had read before seeing it compared it Brazil in both style and theme, But they couldn't be more off the mark. Brazil and The Zero Theorem couldn't be more different. The Zero Theorem was like nothing I had ever seen before and, more importantly, didn't really feel much like a Terry Gilliam movie. This was because it really wasn't: The Zero Theorem was written by UD graduate Pat Rushin, and the movie's thematic elements feel more his then Gilliams. The Zero Theorem at is core is about what meaning, if any, life has. The movie follows Mancom employee Qohen Leth  as he is tasked by Management to prove The Zero Theorem. The Zero Theorem is the postulation that everything adds up to nothing, or as the movie puts it: "zero must equal one hundred percent". However Qohen himself doesn't believe in The Zero Theorem, rather he is waiting for a phone call that he believes will tell him the purpose of his life. In the end (Spoiler Alert) Qohen is convinced of the truth of The Zero Theorem and lives a life of uncaring contentment.

The really interesting question at the core of The Zero Theorem is, of course,: is the Zero Theorem correct? Does everything add up to nothing? Management's goal in the movie is to prove that this indeed is true so that people will be discontented, and be more likely to spend money, and,  arguably, they suceed. Qohen's belief in the phone call was orchestrated by management in order for Qohen to waste his life searching for meaning that doesn't exist, and so his entire life, and everything in it added up to nothing. This implies that the pursuit of meaning proves that there is none. However there is another way to look at this: Qohen's life had meaning in proving that there is no meaning. Although it may not be what he intended to accomplish, Qohen's very existence proved The Zero Theorem thereby giving his life purpose. So the question seems to continue to be unanswered by the paradoxical implications of the film's events. But, perhaps we just need to look at the answer a different way. Qohen's purpose in lack of purpose was orchestrated by Management, and thus the question of the Zero Theorem is not settled by Qohen's life. Instead the question is settled by Management: Managment gave Qohen purpose. The purpose was created by man, and this, I think, is the answer to The Zero Theorem: human life has purpose, but that purpose is not  intrinsic to  existence, and must be created by humans themselves. The take away message of the movie is not to waste your life waiting for meaning to be given to you: make that meaning yourself, take charge of your own life and give yourself purpose.