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Z is another classic cinema verite style movie.It was a huge hit in US and was nominated for 4 oscars, including best picture and best direction. It got 2 oscars, for best foreign film and editing.

The movie is based on the real life incident of the assassination of Greek Leftist leader Grigoris Lambrakis.The movie starts with the assassination of the leftist leader by the right wing mob in a public place before the eyes of the police and people. The right wing group which is backed by the military makes everyone beleive that it was an accident. Pressure from the left wing brings in a judge to investigate the case.The powerful military tries to suppress the investigation, but truth is revealed by the efforts of a straight forward judge and a journalist.

What makes the movie interesting is its cinema verite style which focuses on the incident and not on the characters to present an engaging and energetic movie. It employs lot of rapid cuts. Where by, scenes flow into one another fastly. There is no setting up scenes are slow opening and gradual narration of the situation, the movies cuts from one incident to the other rapidly and maintains the edgy feeling all through out the movie.

Another great thing to the movie is that no country or place is mentioned, even though it is based on a true story the movie does not mention any place or country and it is taken in a way that everybody will relate to it with their own country and political situation. That is what exactly happened in USA, people in US related the Yves Montand character to JFK.The movie by making the story generic, has transcended time and has become a story of suppressed democracies all around the world, rather than the story on one single incident that happened in greece.

Z is always mentioned with battle of Algiers as a good example of the cinema verite style.Z also has other commonalities; it was also shot in algiers. It was a french movie about a greek incident shot in algiers.

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Unlike battle of algiers "Z" had some international stars like Yves Montand, Irene Papas & Jean-Louis Trintignant starring in it.Jean-Louis's acted in Eric Rohmer's classic "My Night at Maud's" the same year.

I wasn't aware of the fact that Greece was under military rule as late as the 80's.And how did that happen?. Same old story, a CIA backed coup.


The movie is simply an ode to democracy.

COSTA-GAVRAS was the son of a Greek leftist leader who was denied admission to study film's in USA cause of his fathers communist background.