Criterion has picked one excellent film to add to its collection on Blu-ray. In 1972, director Costa-Gavras decided to make a movie based on the kidnapping of a Brazilian diplomat and two American US officials named Claude Fly and Dan Mitrione. It was widely covered in the news as Montevideo, Uruguay and a local guerilla militant group came to a head.
The guerilla group kidnapped these three people and threatened to kill them unless the government release all the political prisoners. Things didn't go so well and the country witnessed a lot of death and destruction before there was a conclusion. Interestingly enough, director Gosta-Gavras shot this film shortly after this incident in Chile with the support of Salvador Allende, and tells the story of what just happened in these turbulent times.
Yves Montand plays Philip Michael Santore (who is basically Mitrione) who is kidnapped by the guerilla group. The movie starts out on the big siege where police discover Santore's dead body. From here, we flashback to the incidents that lead up to this and why Santore was chosen to be kidnapped. Throughout all of the flashbacks that coincide with each other, director Gavras wanted to point out the differences in the social, political, and financial issues between the government, Santore, and his kidnappers.
He also shows us why the diabolical torture was used and forced on innocent people for testing. The film shifts from the Latin government and the rebels to the USA and Latin America and their differences once Santore's true identity is revealed. 'State of Siege' is fast paced and quite suspenseful, despite seeing Santore dead at the start of the film. Each debate and discussing in the film is filled with great tension as each side seems uneasy and on the brink of a total meltdown at any given moment.
One of the other reasons this movie is so good is that Gavras had a substantial budget this time around and was allowed to work with hundreds and hundreds of extras and actors to recreate the big siege. It is truly mesmerizing how he got all of these actors to perform under these chaotic conditions, and it definitely shows on film, which is purely terrifying at times.
'State of Siege' is an unrelenting look at something that took place in real-life during one of the most violent times in Uruguay. It's also quite beautiful, as Gavras used his cinematic eye to film almost every emotion from both sides on a large scale. This is one film that won't be soon forgotten.
The guerilla group kidnapped these three people and threatened to kill them unless the government release all the political prisoners. Things didn't go so well and the country witnessed a lot of death and destruction before there was a conclusion. Interestingly enough, director Gosta-Gavras shot this film shortly after this incident in Chile with the support of Salvador Allende, and tells the story of what just happened in these turbulent times.
Yves Montand plays Philip Michael Santore (who is basically Mitrione) who is kidnapped by the guerilla group. The movie starts out on the big siege where police discover Santore's dead body. From here, we flashback to the incidents that lead up to this and why Santore was chosen to be kidnapped. Throughout all of the flashbacks that coincide with each other, director Gavras wanted to point out the differences in the social, political, and financial issues between the government, Santore, and his kidnappers.
He also shows us why the diabolical torture was used and forced on innocent people for testing. The film shifts from the Latin government and the rebels to the USA and Latin America and their differences once Santore's true identity is revealed. 'State of Siege' is fast paced and quite suspenseful, despite seeing Santore dead at the start of the film. Each debate and discussing in the film is filled with great tension as each side seems uneasy and on the brink of a total meltdown at any given moment.
One of the other reasons this movie is so good is that Gavras had a substantial budget this time around and was allowed to work with hundreds and hundreds of extras and actors to recreate the big siege. It is truly mesmerizing how he got all of these actors to perform under these chaotic conditions, and it definitely shows on film, which is purely terrifying at times.
'State of Siege' is an unrelenting look at something that took place in real-life during one of the most violent times in Uruguay. It's also quite beautiful, as Gavras used his cinematic eye to film almost every emotion from both sides on a large scale. This is one film that won't be soon forgotten.