Z is one of top crop of the truly incisive, daring and most cinematically successful conspiracy/political thrillers. It is this because of its attention, lucidly surprisingly given its often non-linear structure, to its plot filled with many strands and possible loose ends, and because its director Costa-Gavras injects the story (told "deliberately" on true events, apparently from recent Greek history) with a taut, exciting and efficient post-modern aesthetic. There is very little time to breathe; one wonders if we might cry at the end not simply because hope seems to be all but lost but because of its breathless attitude and pacing. There's life here, and it's being crushed bit by bit.
And, contrary to some criticism, it is not just some piece for liberals or "socialist scum" as one IMDb reviewer wrote (half) jokingly. On the contrary the story- an investigation into the assassination of a prominent figure of peace, the Deputy as he's called played by Yves Montand, and how a prosecutor (Perier) and a photo-journalist are the only halfway decent and/or objective ones to sort out the bottom-to-top corruption- is essentially about speaking truth to power in an unjust society. What power, perhaps, is part of the conundrum in this case. Even the top brass attorney general doesn't buy the ultimate sum of the facts tallied by the prosecutor at the end, bringing to the bittersweet (more-so on bitter) end of the tale.
Gavras' film is loaded with dialog and inquiry, scenes of tense intimidation and harrowing and jerky inquiry, and the usual set-pieces of action and suspense for a work like this that relies on sometimes documentary approach. The latter of these isn't too frequent, but two prominent sequences (a nasty fight in the back of a pivotal pick-up truck, and a chase by car after a witness) are extraordinary in frenetic energy, cinematography and (strange and cool) music score. The acting is also spot on, from the poker-faced prosecutor to the stalwart General to the dedicated photo-journalist with sneaky tendencies (we don't know for sure if he's legit at first sneaking on on Deputy's grieving widow), and all these fellows in between like a simple non-partisan soccer fan witness, not to mention the deputy's widow herself.
Everything just about clicks in Z, and most frightening of all, there's still a feeling of relevancy nearly 40 years later. It's not simply the conspiracy-plot stuff, as we've seen that either in crazier modes (Winter Kills) or in more ambitious Hollywood skewering and prodding (JFK). It's the direct-hit of how everything seems to seem fishy, from the government to the military to the police to just the common grocer or barber, and all having to do with one political siding or another or some gleaming on to power. It's in part a big product of its period- aside from being a true story cleverly without direct names and spoken in French instead of Greek it must have been really potent during the rallies and riots in America and elsewhere in Europe- and in part just purely amazing film-making that dazzles with its story and doesn't let up in keeping us attentive to the horrors at hand.
And, contrary to some criticism, it is not just some piece for liberals or "socialist scum" as one IMDb reviewer wrote (half) jokingly. On the contrary the story- an investigation into the assassination of a prominent figure of peace, the Deputy as he's called played by Yves Montand, and how a prosecutor (Perier) and a photo-journalist are the only halfway decent and/or objective ones to sort out the bottom-to-top corruption- is essentially about speaking truth to power in an unjust society. What power, perhaps, is part of the conundrum in this case. Even the top brass attorney general doesn't buy the ultimate sum of the facts tallied by the prosecutor at the end, bringing to the bittersweet (more-so on bitter) end of the tale.
Gavras' film is loaded with dialog and inquiry, scenes of tense intimidation and harrowing and jerky inquiry, and the usual set-pieces of action and suspense for a work like this that relies on sometimes documentary approach. The latter of these isn't too frequent, but two prominent sequences (a nasty fight in the back of a pivotal pick-up truck, and a chase by car after a witness) are extraordinary in frenetic energy, cinematography and (strange and cool) music score. The acting is also spot on, from the poker-faced prosecutor to the stalwart General to the dedicated photo-journalist with sneaky tendencies (we don't know for sure if he's legit at first sneaking on on Deputy's grieving widow), and all these fellows in between like a simple non-partisan soccer fan witness, not to mention the deputy's widow herself.
Everything just about clicks in Z, and most frightening of all, there's still a feeling of relevancy nearly 40 years later. It's not simply the conspiracy-plot stuff, as we've seen that either in crazier modes (Winter Kills) or in more ambitious Hollywood skewering and prodding (JFK). It's the direct-hit of how everything seems to seem fishy, from the government to the military to the police to just the common grocer or barber, and all having to do with one political siding or another or some gleaming on to power. It's in part a big product of its period- aside from being a true story cleverly without direct names and spoken in French instead of Greek it must have been really potent during the rallies and riots in America and elsewhere in Europe- and in part just purely amazing film-making that dazzles with its story and doesn't let up in keeping us attentive to the horrors at hand.