Review of Z (1969) by Jennifer A — 13 May 2008

More library rentals.....

[b]Z (1969) - 8.1/10[/b].

Director - Costa Gavras.

Starring - Yves Montand, Jacques Perrin, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Irene Papas, Francois Perier, Marcel Bozzuffi, Jean Bouise, Pierre Dux.

Zei (Yves Montand) is a scientest preparing to give a speech against nuclear weapons. On the way to the speech he is attacked by right-wing extremists as the police stand by doing nothing. He's able to make the speech, but when it's over he's attacked again outside of the auditorium, this time landing in the hospital where he dies. A photojournalist (Jacques Perrin) was present at the event and begins searching for witnesses. Those he finds are intimidated by the police and other government officials. The story is based off of actual trial transcripts of a Greek pacifist assassinated in 1963.

[i]Z [/i]was the first foreign film nominated for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Film Oscars, winning the latter. It's frenetically paced, bouncing back and forth, revealing layers of corruption, from government officials to the right-wing street thugs who do the dirty work. The editing was brilliant (it won an Academy Award) and the story never lulls. It's one of the best film statements against goverment repression ever made. I was impressed by this film!

[b]A Bridge Too Far (1977) - 4.0/10[/b].

Director - Richard Attenborough.

Starring - Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Hardy Kruger, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O'Neal, Robert Redford, Maximillian Schell, Liv Ullman.

It's late 1944 and the Allied forces have the Germans on the run. Oh just read your history books.

I picked this up at the library because of it's impressive cast. I plopped into my DVD player and it was like hey it's Anthony Hopkins! Oh there is Laurence Olivier! Hey it's Robert Redford! Truthfully I was bored silly by this film. It's about 3 hours long and the first hour is nothing but a bunch of Allied officers discussing military tactics. Yep that's riveting cinema! So I started cleaning my apartment leaving this on in the background thinking I might eventually find it interesting. I didn't. By the time they reached the bridges I could have cared less. This film came out in 1977, just a couple of years before films like "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deer Hunter" but it honestly felt so much older because of the way that it was filmed. Don't let the star-studded cast fool you, it's one boring film. I would think only hardcore WWII enthusiasts could enjoy this emotionally sterile film. Better yet they should just watch a documentary.