This past summer I caught up with three excellent political thrillers directed by
Costa-Gavras. All of them I highly recommend. They are among some of the best films I've seen this year or any year.
The first movie is
Z from 1969. I remember watching this years ago when I was in high school but I was too young to
understand what what going on. Now that I am older it makes so much more sense and it is very relevant today as it was
then. It's called "
Z" because Z represents the idealism and events surrounding the character portrayed by Yves Montand,
a prominent peace activist beloved by all who oppose the radical martial law of the society. Those in the military and
government want him and his followers silenced and/or killed. Early on in the film, Z is mortally wounded, but we - the
audience -don't know how exactly, because the government spins the incident as "an accident". The mystery unfolds as
the film progresses, but it's more than a mystery. It's an exploration into how various people and groups react and
overreact in the aftermath of a crisis, and how so much is covered up by the government and the media. It's hard to
describe the rest because there is so much going on with so many interesting characters, suspects, and twists. One of the
most interesting characters to watch is the young lawyer assigned to investigate the case played by Jean-Louis
Trintignant. Once you see this film you will not soon forget it. Also starring Irene Pappas. 2 Oscar wins: Best Foreign
Language Film, Best Film Editing. Nominated for Best Picture and Director. Read Roger Ebert's 4-Star review:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969
Another blog post about this movie from Michael's Movie Palace here ->
50th anniversary tribute from Silver Screen Modes.
The next movie is
State of Siege from 1971, which is just as good if not better than Z. Mr Montand is in the film again,
this time playing an American ambassador in South America who has been kidnapped by a left-wing militant organization, something of a young person's movement against government corruption and abuse of power. The
opening scenes - remarkably realistic - show a massive, militaristic manhunt unravel on the streets. Then, all of a sudden,
the ambassador is found dead, the search is over, and things quiet down, and an elaborate state funeral takes place. This isn't a spoiler though, because the rest of
the film brilliantly shows us the circumstances behind Montand's death. We are shown what happened after the zealots apprehended him and bring him to a remote, undisclosed location. He's questioned by left wing activists, who
do not intend to kill him, even though fate would dictate otherwise. The most memorable character from the film is a
veteran news reporter played by O.E. Hasse, who reminded me of Walter Cronkite; the reporter is present at all the major
press conferences and always asking the toughest questions. Suspicious of the official statements, he does a bit of
questioning and investigating on his own.
The third movie is perhaps the most intense of all,
The Confession from 1970, which can be seen as a story of survival.
Mr. Montand is in the film again, and this time, he's tortured and imprisoned for reasons neither we nor his character
understand at first. As the film progresses, we learn that he used to be an active member of a Communist party, but now has settled into a more bourgeoisie lifestyle, much to the dismay of his more militant Communist kidnappers. While he's imprisoned, he is forced to confess to things that are not true for political reasons. He is stubborn, though,
and will not confess. In the meantime, his wife (portrayed by the lovely Simon Signoret) wants nothing more than her
husband freed.
The Confession is not an easy film to watch as many scenes show a blindfolded Montand horribly mistreated and
depraved of food and water. It's another well-made and thought-provoking film that puts you int he shoes of a prisoner
and makes you think what you would do in his case. The ending will last long in your memory.
I enjoyed the movie, despite the corniness of some of the characters including the furry short guy, a real moocher if there ever was one, always looking for "munchies and crunchies" (food). I like how he redeems himself in the end. I also liked the main hero, a young pig farmer who has a magical pig that can predict the future. And I liked the harp player who bickers with his harp. The princess was OK; she had some sort of floating, glowing glass ball or "bauble" that serves no purpose; I kept waiting for that thing to pay off but it never did. She also had her own theme music which sounded alot like one of the pieces from Ghostbusters. I then learned that Elmer Bernstein was the same composer for both movies. Many of the musical sounds in Black Cauldron sound like those in Ghostbusters, but that's not a negative thing. The villain is pretty scary, too.
