Z (1969 film)
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox film Z is a 1969 political thriller film directed by Costa-Gavras, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jorge Semprún, adapted from the 1967 novel by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. With its dark view of Greek politics and its downbeat ending, the film captures the director's outrage about the junta that then ruled Greece. The title refers to a popular Greek protest slogan (Template:Langx, Template:IPA) meaning "he lives," in reference to Lambrakis.
A French and Algerian co-production,<ref name="bfi" /> the film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as the investigating magistrate, an analogue of Christos Sartzetakis, who would become the President of Greece from 1985 to 1990. International stars Yves Montand and Irene Papas also appear, but despite their star billing, they have shorter screen time. Jacques Perrin, who also produced the film, plays a key role as a photojournalist. Other actors in the film include Pierre Dux, Charles Denner, François Périer, Georges Géret and Bernard Fresson. The musical score was composed by Mikis Theodorakis.
Z was a surprise international hit and is considered to be a landmark film of the political thriller genre. It became the first non-English language film to receive nominations for the Academy Awards in both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film categories. It also received numerous accolades including Best Actor for Trintignant and Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.
Plot
The left-wing opposition in an unnamed Mediterranean country (based on Greece under the junta) plan to have a famous government deputy (based on Grigoris Lambrakis) give a speech advocating for nuclear disarmament, but the government interferes by pressuring venues to deny them space and setting thugs on them to tear down posters and harass attendees. The opposition receive an anonymous tip about a threat to the deputy's life and report it to government officials, but they dismiss the claims.
During the speech, Pirou, another deputy, goes to find their promised protection, but is mistaken for the real target and savagely beaten before his assailants realize they have the wrong man. As the intended target crosses the street from the hall after giving his speech, a delivery truck speeds past him, and a man on the open truck bed strikes him down with a club. The Chief Prosecutor is informed of the incident and the General (head of the state police and a fierce anticommunist) lies that the deputy has been injured by a drunk driver, Yago, who they have in custody. The phone then rings, revealing the deputy has died.
At the hospital, the magistrate assigned to the investigation learns that the autopsy indicates the deputy died from blows to the head, not a car crash. He is informed of a witness, but before he can testify, the man is hit by a club from a passing car. The General and the man's family, who are sympathetic to the government, visit the man in the hospital and pressure him not to testify, but he does anyway, saying that Yago (his delivery driver) talked openly about the plan to murder the Deputy. The journalist visits the man and unwittingly spoils an assassination attempt by the Deputy's assailant Vago, who has been placed in the hospital by the government and is arrested. During the interrogation, the magistrate baits Vago into revealing that he is part of a clandestine anti-communist group, the Christian Royalist Organization against Communism (CROC), with ties to the state police.
With the help of a CROC informer, the journalist learns more about the organization and photographs members that the informer points out. He then takes the photos to Pirou, who identifies his assailant. It is later revealed that the Colonel bribed Pirou's assailant with a lifetime peddling license and new house to assist in their plan against the deputy. As the magistrate continues to investigate CROC, he demands that the opposition counselor produce the witness who originally told them of the plot against the deputy, revealed to be a fellow deliveryman with ties to the former Greek communist resistance movement. He describes Yago threatening him into silence, and that he saw Yago with the Colonel and the head of CROC. As one of the other opposition lawyers heads to the office to testify, a car attempts to run him down in front of a crowd of witnesses.
With a large amount of corroborating evidence, the magistrate plans to charge high-ranking military officers and, upon learning of this plan, the country's attorney general arrives and criticizes his plans, arguing that they will harm the nation. He suggests that the magistrate try Yago and Vago apart, leave the issue of the police to be solved internally, and indict the opposition for inflammatory speech, but he follows through with his plans. The General denies any affiliation with CROC, but the magistrate presents a photo of a banquet he hosted in their honor. The action of the film concludes with one of the deputy's associates rushing to see his widow to give her the surprising news of the officers' indictments, to which she looks distressed.
An epilogue provides a synopsis of the subsequent turns of events. Instead of justice being served, the prosecutor is mysteriously removed from the case, several key witnesses die under suspicious circumstances, the assassins receive relatively short sentences, the officers receive only administrative reprimands, the deputy's close associates die or are deported and the photojournalist is sent to prison for disclosing official documents. The heads of the government resign after public disapproval, but before elections are carried out, a coup d'état occurs, and the military seize power. They ban modern art, popular music, avant-garde novelists, modern mathematics, classic and modern philosophers and the use of the letter "Ζ" (Template:Langx, or Template:Langx, which is used by protesters against the former government), which refers to the deputy and means "He lives."
Cast
Background
The 1963 murder of Greek politician and physician Grigoris Lambrakis and subsequent military junta in power from 1967–1973 served as the basis for the story.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Among Costa-Gavras' references to the actual events was the frequency with which the military compared ideologies to diseases, seen when the General compares -isms to mildew.<ref name="Costa">Template:Cite AV media</ref> The Magistrate was based on real-life Greek jurist Christos Sartzetakis.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Costa-Gavras opted to show the Deputy had adulteries and conflicts with his wife to demonstrate he was simply a man.<ref name="Costa"/>
Costa-Gavras was also motivated by the suspicious disappearance of Mehdi Ben Barka in 1965. Some American viewers infer parallels between the film and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, particularly given how some stylistic elements seem to mimic the Zapruder film. That said, Costa-Gavras has stated that the Zapruder film had not been widely circulated in Europe at the time and that Kennedy's assassination did not influence the production.<ref name="cine">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Production
Principal photography took place in Algiers at actor Jacques Perrin's suggestion, which the filmmakers approved for its Mediterranean environment and because the Ministry of Culture was accommodating.<ref name="Costa"/> In Algiers, the Hotel St. Georges and the central square were filming locations, while Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was used for the ballet scenes.<ref name="Costa"/> Marcel Bozzuffi performed his own stunts wrestling on the "Kamikaze" vehicle due to the production's lack of budget for professional stunt performers.<ref name="Costa"/>
Costa-Gavras chose Z as the title of the film based on its common occurrence in Greek graffiti for "He lives" (or even "Lambrakis you live; it’s you who guides us!" [Λαμπράκη ζεις, εσύ μας οδηγείς!; Lambráki zis, esý mas odigís!]); Costa-Gavras acknowledged a one-letter film title was unconventional and said Yves Montand expressed concern it would be confused with Zorro, but Costa-Gavras said the novelty of the idea won him over.<ref name="Costa"/>
Soundtrack
The soundtrack by Mikis Theodorakis was a hit record. The Greek junta had placed the composer under house arrest but he was able to give his approval to Costa-Gavras for the use of existing musical pieces.
The film features, but does not credit, Pierre Henry's contemporary hit song "Psyché Rock". The soundtrack as released on LP and CD replaces Henry's song with a similar track written by Theodorakis titled "Café Rock."
- Main Title (Antonis) from the "Mauthausen Trilogy" of Mikis Theodorakis
- The Smiling Youth
- The Chase-The Smiling Youth
- Murmur of the Heart
- Cafe Rock
- Arrival of Helen-The Smiling Youth
- Batucada
- The Smiling Youth (Bouzouki Version)
- The Smiling Youth
- Who's Not Talking About Easter
- Finale-The Smiling Youth
- Murmur of the Heart
- In This Town
"The Smiling Youth" and "Who's Not Talking About Easter" were among the poems adapted from Brendan Behan's play The Hostage by Theodorakis in 1962. By referring to the Irish struggle against British rule rather than Greek realities, the poems offered a way to circumvent censorship in Greece and condemn Greece's post-war right-wing establishment. "The Smiling Youth" (το γελαστό παιδί) was also one of the nicknames of Lambrakis.
Release
Z was picked up for U.S. distribution by the specialty company/New York City theatre chain Cinema 5.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Reception
Prints of the film were acquired by the Black Panther Party and shown at underground screenings.<ref name="cine" /> An advance copy of the film was shown at the United Front Against Fascism conference in 1969.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It first aired on American television on ABC on 18 March 1974.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Critical response
At the time of release, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who named Z the best film of 1969, liked the screenplay and its message, and wrote: "[Z] is a film of our time. It is about how even moral victories are corrupted. It will make you weep and will make you angry. It will tear your guts out...When the Army junta staged its coup in 1967, the right-wing generals and the police chief were cleared of all charges and 'rehabilitated.' Those responsible for unmasking the assassination now became political criminals. These would seem to be completely political events, but the young director Costa-Gavras has told them in a style that is almost unbearably exciting. Z is at the same time a political cry of rage and a brilliant suspense thriller. It even ends in a chase: Not through the streets but through a maze of facts, alibis and official corruption."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2006, critic James Berardinelli wrote: "Z was the third feature film from Greek-born Costa-Gavras, but it is the movie that captured him to the world's attention, winning a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. It introduced the director's signature approach of combining overt political messages with edge-of-the-seat tension."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jonathan Richards wrote in 2009: "It's hard to overstate the impact that this Oscar-winning procedural thriller had in 1969, on a world roiling in political activism, repression, and discord. In the U.S., the Vietnam War was on the front burner, the populace was passionately engaged, and the police riots outside the '68 Chicago Democratic Convention and the murder of Black Panther Fred Hampton were raw wounds. With this stylish, intense indictment of the assassination of a leftist political leader by a right-wing government cabal in his native Greece, director Costa-Gavras struck a nerve that resonated here and around the globe."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2009, Armond White praised the film and wrote: "Ending with a provocative, unorthodox tally of fascist clampdowns on freedom of expression and the arts, Costa-Gavras angles his exposé with a frightening coda that encapsulates the on-going political struggle. He avoids hippie optimism and foresees contemporary cynicism with a basic thriller device: a warning. Z carries the reverberations of that cultural shift from enlightenment to paranoia in each of its shrewdly devised tropes from common genres. Costa-Gavras expresses the tension and terror of political conspiracy that haunted the democratic and anti-war movements of the sixties—and still does."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% "fresh" score based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's consensus states: "Powerfully effective, this anti-fascist political thriller stands out as both high-conscience melodrama and high-tempo action movie."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The film was voted in Time's list of "The 15 Best Political Films of All Time."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
The film was selected to be screened in the Cannes Classics section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="Classics">Template:Cite web</ref>
Box office
The film had a total of 3,952,913 admissions in France and was the 4th highest-grossing film of the year.<ref name="JPBox Office">Template:Cite web</ref> It was also very popular in the United States grossing $17.3 million,<ref name=gross/> being one of the top five highest-grossing non-English language films.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Awards and nominations
Z was the second foreign-language film in Academy history to receive a nomination for Best Picture, after Grand Illusion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the 27th Golden Globe Awards, its producers refused the award to protest the film's exclusion from the Best Motion Picture – Drama category.<ref name="GlobeRefusal">Template:Cite web</ref>
Legacy
Filmmakers Paul Greengrass and Aki Kaurismäki listed the film in their top 10 films of all time for the 2012 Sight and Sound poll<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and other films directors such as Michael Haneke, Paul Schrader and John Woo have listed it as one of their favorite films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The French filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz listed the film as influential to his work.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The French filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb listed Z as an influence on his film Outside the Law.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
It is regarded as one of American filmmaker Oliver Stone's favorite films that inspired his filmmaking.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> John Milius also cited the film as an influence.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh listed Z as an inspiration on his film Traffic and stated that he "wanted to make it like [Costa-Gavras]'s Z".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The American filmmaker William Friedkin listed Z as one of his favorite films and mentioned the film's influence on him when directing his film The French Connection: "After I saw Z, I realized how I could shoot The French Connection. Because he [Costa-Gavras] shot Z like a documentary. It was a fiction film but it was made like it was actually happening. Like the camera didn't know what was gonna happen next. And that is an induced technique. It looks like he happened upon the scene and captured what was going on as you do in a documentary. My first films were documentaries too. So I understood what he was doing but I never thought you could do that in a feature at that time until I saw Z."<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> As an homage, Friedkin cast actor Marcel Bozzuffi in a similar role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The American actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck listed the film as an influence for his film Argo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The movie provided the inspiration for the name of Z Magazine, now ZNetwork.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- List of submissions to the 42nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Algerian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
References
External links
- Template:IMDb title
- Z at AllMovie
- Template:TCMDb title
- Template:Rotten Tomatoes
- Z background and analysis at Plaka
- Z: Sounding the Alarm an essay by Armond White at the Criterion Collection
Template:Costa-Gavras Template:Jacques Perrin Template:Navboxes
- 1969 crime thriller films
- 1969 films
- 1960s English-language films
- 1960s French films
- 1960s French-language films
- 1960s in Greek politics
- 1960s political thriller films
- 1960s Russian-language films
- Algerian drama films
- Best International Feature Film Academy Award winners
- Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners
- Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival) winners
- Edgar Award–winning works
- English-language Algerian films
- English-language French films
- English-language political thriller films
- Existentialist films
- French crime thriller films
- French docudrama films
- French political thriller films
- Films à clef
- Films about anti-fascism
- Films about assassinations
- Films about coups d'état
- Films about political repression
- Films based on Greek novels
- Films directed by Costa Gavras
- Films scored by Mikis Theodorakis
- Films set in Greece
- Films set in hospitals
- Films shot in Algeria
- Films shot in France
- Films shot in Paris
- Films set in 1963
- Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film winners
- Political thriller films based on actual events