da best political thriller: "Z" (1969) by Costa-Gavras
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Film General
Paul P. Powell — 5 months ago(October 18, 2025 11:28 PM)
And by this declaration I do not mean: political movies in general; nor action-thriller; nor spy thriller; any of the other varieties in-between
Talking here about political intrigue only; and in this category "
Z
" (1969) can probably be regarded as supreme.
It's not quite the same kind of flick as Pontecorvo's "
Battle of Algiers"
. It is not the same as "
Three Days of the Condor"
. It is not
"All the President's Men"
.
It carves out its own territory.
"Z" caused a firestorm upon its release, winning numerous honors for its expose of fascist politics.
Of course –with the passage of time –it is not very frequently in the news anymore. However, it does enjoy a well-deserved slot in the Criterion Collection.
The reason I make mention of it at all is because –having recently watched it in full –I now understand why it caused such controversy.
As a study of populist authoritarianism, it is scathing.
I'd only ever seen snippets of it up to now –probably in college –and I never fully grasped the storyline.
It is a crash-course in international relations.
From Wikipedia:
'The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963'.
Lambrakis bio:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigoris_Lambrakis
I strongly recommend this documentary-style yarn to students of political science, or European history.
The plain, unadorned question explored by the director is:
"Exactly how does a right-wing party manipulate a free people?"
It is a superb learning tool. All the mechanisms are laid bare.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player