punishmentpark
After 'Mad City', which I don't remember being all too great, 'Z' is the second film by Costa-Gravas that I've seen, and it's absolutely worth watching. The viewer is in on the fact that the accident is really an assassination from the get-go, but the investigation by the relentless judge is nonetheless quite riveting, as are scenes that include tense pursuits, personal dramas of those involved and some scenes that have a certain amount of humour in them, such as the military officers that try to leave the courts, each of them fumbling at the same - locked - door.Maybe in the end things are happening all too fast, and maybe the screen time for Montand is too little, but the whole story is told and it is a film about an intricate murder case and the responsible parties, and not necessarily about one political figure - even though his 'name' ís the title of the film.8 out of 10.
ElMaruecan82
"Z" opens with an amazing statement from the writers Jorge Semprun and Costa-Gavras: any similarity with real events, dead or living persons, is not fortuitous, it is deliberate. Indeed, more than a gauzy fictionalized dramatization of the events that surrounded the assassination of a political activist in Greece in 1963, "Z" is a powerful denunciation. Though most of us are not familiar with these events, it hardly matters because the film is beyond any geopolitical consideration, although the military officers' opening speech leaves a bizarre taste. And since only justice can be the measure of a good society, it's appropriate that the film's main protagonist is a magistrate. Jean-Louis Trintignant, behind his horn-rimmed glasses and zombie-like strictness, incarnates a legitimate form of authority, because only a zealous judge can carry the hopes of a population eager to see one of his most admirable heroes be avenged, Yves Montand, a physician, an ex-athlete and the major opponent to the country's right-wing military-dominated government. The ill-fated deputy is killed twice: first by a club hit on his head after a chaotic meeting, the second time by the corrupted system that concluded to a hazardous accident. Meaning 'he lives' in ancient Greek, "Z" becomes the protest slogan following his death, as his spirit, courage and hopes for the country still inhabited the hearts of his supporters. And served by a dizzying editing, the film deconstruct the conspiracy lying behind the murder. Preventing the meeting from being held, bribing some thugs to razz the supporters, the heads of state all conveniently attend an opera event while the assassination takes place, as a perfect alibi. In the the middle of a populous fizz, the Deputy is surprised by the arrival of an azure delivery-truck zigzagging as driven by a 'drunken' man, Yago (Renato Salvtaori), while Vago gives the lethal shot. Marcel Bozuffi, the brutal hit-man from "The French Connection", incarnates, through his cunning grin, the system's evil craziness. And on their sides, his bosses, from the General (Pierre Dux) to the Chief of Security (Julien Giuomar), and the tacit complicity of a smooth-talking François Périer as the Public Prosecutor, spare no efforts to silence the witnesses, and raze the traces of conspiracy. But the magistrate can also count a young photojournalist, played by Jacques Perrin, who seizes the opportunity to get through the infuriating procedural maze. "Z" carries the mark of a great political thriller, with a score from Mikis Theodorakis that brilliantly conveys the quest for democratic light in the tyrannic haze. But each country has a "Z", a shameful secret of state. The sight of Montand holding his head after being hit is the ultimate representation of disbelief and a desperate pray for the nightmare to end. But the nightmare only begins through the cat-and-mouse chase while the road to truth is paved by hints, false declarations or too conveniently similar statements. Yet unless the conspiracy is proved, the magistrate still refers to it as an 'accident', which makes even more significant the pivotal slip of tongue when he inadvertently refers to the act as a 'murder', entering at this point a very dangerous zone. We know we're coming close to a happy ending, and it's almost a blessing not to be familiar with the real events, because it makes the conclusion even more impacting.The irony of "Z" is to be much more cinematically efficient for foreigners, hence the film's universal acclaim, Golden Palm, Oscar for Best Foreign picture, nomination for Best Picture, most acclaimed French movie. No one can expect the ending, after the whole climactic sequence with the grizzly officers finally being interrogated in an almost zany way. Their triumph, the way they razed all the efforts, is as upsetting as the previous five minutes were zesty and enthralling. When Irene Papas, the Deputy's widow, is told about the victory but she looks at the sea, wondering if it isn't too good to be true, somewhat, her face betrays the look of a real Greek woman who knows what happened, and when the image of the young journalist freezes, the following monologue is the last smack in our faces before the score fills our heats with puzzlement and anger. Still, beyond the shock, we can relate to it, because as foreigners, "Z" reveals our own country's ugly side, like "JFK" did to Americans with the Kennedy's assassination, except that "Z" is a gutsy as if "JFK" was made in the 60's. Theodorakis was imprisoned at "Z" release; that tells you how the film was still impregnated by the cruel reality it denounces."Z" is about the zero level of governments, political practice at its most abject, at its most cynical, where it's better to blame the Americans, the systems in -isms, where the leaders have control on the slightest elements and treat education like plantation, oozing the most disgusting signs of fascism…. where the general, magnificently played by Pierre Dux, shouts that he can't compare himself to Dreyfus because "Dreyfus was guilty", a line so amoral it's better to take it with laughs."Z" is the dazing and dazzling recollection of such notions taken for granted as freedom, truth and justice, disguised in a thrilling political jigsaw puzzle; "Z" is a rally cry full of hopes and anger, "Z" is probably the only iconic title of movie history, speaking so many universal verities behind a simple letter.It is also the most significant political film ever made.
