Review of Z (1969) by Guillaume G — 24 Mar 2010

The Greatest Films, a Review.

Grade: A+.

Right off the bat; I just saw Z for the first time, and It is one of the greatest film's I have ever seen.

The Title, Z, refers to a Greek protest slogan, meaning "He Lives".

Directed by Costa Gavras, there is not a single moment of this film that I wish they had left out, nor a single second of which I wasn't captivated. Sergei Eisenstein himself would have applauded the parallel editing and mirror imaging that the films use of cross-cutting with memory recollection evokes. "Perfect Form" is the phrase that comes to mind. This is a film that has shaken off the dead spots and left on everything worth showing. It's arguably the greatest political thriller I have ever seen. This film is in a race with itself to reach the finish line, and we as viewers simply have to hang on as the roller coaster picks up speed.

The phrase "Government and Army controlled Police State" and the word "Revolutionary" will together usually result in deaths and cover-ups, as well as use of force against the public. Z is about these things, however it also has time to stare at the abyss, and realize that external forces outside of government and judicial control pull strings, too high in the sky to see (except for a few), for the characters in this film.

This is a film about a political assassination. There is strong, purposeful resemblance between this film and real life occurrences in Greece in the early 60's, as far as the state of their society and overall system of governance and control is concerned. This is a time of public outrage and hope, the hatred of leftists, of fear mongering and backstabbing; Z in the end is mainly a film about having power and control, at all costs.

When governments are corrupt, there are always two contributing sides. When it gets too far, those for peace speak up. That's when the 2 opposite sides seem to agree on one thing; silencing those for peace, those for the people. Peace would be like pressing a reset button; what would they do with all those weapons, throw em' away... Peace? But then where would they get their "Power"?

The film has about twelve characters worth mentioning, but I can't. To note mainly is the "Political Dissident" (The Deputy, played by Yves Montand) who is the representation of righteousness that set's the evil plot on its course. Also major to the plot is The Examinating Magistrate (played by Jean Louis Trintignant, who is the lead in the film, The Conformist, another Political Classic). The Magistrate is the main person we follow as he heads up an investigation into the attempted assassination of The Deputy. Some of the best parts of the story involve the panic stricken wife of The Deputy, played by Irene Papas. We are introduced to various Government and Army leaders/officials who may or may not be tangled up in this web of lies and deceit. The film is so forward in its motives that at times the characters seem amusing, satirical, but they are never unrealistic; over-idealized in their own way's perhaps. The tone is like the flipside to the surrealist undertones in Dr. Strangelove, here being very realistic, yet still creating an amusing effect.

Z has some of the finest editing to ever be assembled, as well as a great number of other neat parallels and character insights; its the way the editing makes sense of these things, instead of jumbling everything up, that makes it great. The first and last scenes have a striking and horrifying connection to them, sad and very, very honest.

This is the first film to ever be nominated for both Best Foreign Film and Best Picture at the Academy awards. Watch it once, what it twenty times, I know I will.

It's fitting that I watched this after "The Last Temptation of Christ" as they both deal with oppressive rule, the search for peace, and the martyrdom of a man. My next review should be a lighter film.