Well, I always want to watch movies that set significant world records and this was one of them. This set the record for shortest movie title to ever win an Oscar. It was weird because watching this, it just seemed to have no meaning. I thought maybe it was meant to represent finality. You know with "Z" being the last letter of the alphabet. Well, it did reveal its meaning at the very end of the film, so I was at least partly right. It says that the letter "Z" has been banned from Greece. Well, nobody used it anyway. The ending is easily the most noteworthy thing about the movie too.The film tells the real life story of a Greek senator who was killed with everyone investigating his death and discovering it was not an accident as originally thought but an assassination. Then we find out that the country of Greece has lost tons of its freedom after his death with too many things to list now banned. Roll credits. Wow, that was a depressing ending. Well, it was based on a true story so I can sadly assume the same thing happened in real life. It's always great to watch a movie based on real life events, especially one as great as this. I feel bad for having no idea that this event ever even happened.Then again, I'm not familiar with modern Greek history at all. Maybe I did hear about this guy sometime but just forgot about him. At least we have this great movie to remember him by. Speaking of real life, I really am glad I saw this on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration. I didn't go through all the effort of watching it, but instead learned a real life story about civil unrest and the loss of freedom. I'm always optimistic, but we really need to be hopeful for this situation. As with most films like this, the acting is fantastic. Everything is so realistic because well, the people worked so hard to honor these brave people who lost their lives in real life. While not as good as "Saving Private Ryan" or "United 93", it's still a true gem.I thought that a movie in French would talk about the history of France. It took me awhile to realize it was about Greece! Well, I'm sure countries can make movies about other country's history. This is one of the most accoladed foreign language films ever made. It's great that we open ourselves up to the great things other countries have given us and even other countries that those countries honor. I didn't know how long this movie was, but I was certainly sad when it ended. Whatever situations give us downer endings in any story, just know there's always the potential for something better up the road, just like right now. ****

I found this Algerian-French film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, from the single one word title I had no idea what it would involve, but with a good rating by critics I hoped it would be worthy of its placement. Basically it begins a rather dull government lecture and slide show on agricultural policy has just ended, after which The General (Pierre Dux), leader of the security police of a right-wing military-dominated government, takes over the podium for an impassioned speech about the program by the government to combat leftism, using metaphors. Then it moves to preparations for an opposition rally, with pacifist The Deputy (Yves Montand) giving a speech advocating nuclear disarmament, it is obvious the government has been attempting to prevent the delivery of the speech. The speech venue has changed to a smaller hall, and logistical problems have come out of nowhere, right-wing anticommunist bullies (some sponsored by the government) hit the Deputy on the head, but he continues to make his sharp speech. Following the Deputy's speech, he crosses the road, a delivery truck speeds past him, with a man striking him with a club, this injury proves fatal, but it is obvious that the police have manipulated witnesses to force a conclusion that the victim was run over by a drunk driver. However the police has no control with the hospital reports, the autopsy disapprove of this interpretation, the Examining Magistrate (Jean-Louis Trintignant), and assistance from Photojournalist (Jacques Perrin), conclude that sufficient evidence proves two right-wing militants committed the murder, as well as four high-ranking military police officers, the distressed Deputy's widow Hélène (Irene Papas) gives her incites as well. The court case has many unexpected turn of events, including the prosecutor mysteriously removed, several key witnesses die in suspicious circumstances, the assassins receive fairly short sentences, the officers are only reprimanded, the Deputy's close associates die or are deported, and the Photojournalist is imprisoned for disclosing official documents. In the end, the government heads resign following public disapproval, but before elections are carried out there is a coup and the military seize power, there is a ban on modern and popular art, including in popular music and avant-garde novelists, modern mathematics, classic and modern philosophers, and the use of the term "Z", which is a popular Greek protest slogan, it means "he lives". Also starring Charles Denner as Manuel, Georges Géret as Nick and François Périer as Attorney. I was just about able to follow what was going on, with dodgy government and military officials and officers getting caught up in a murder conspiracy that becomes a big courtroom inquiry, with themes of betrayal and corruption, an interesting political drama. It won the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Film Editing, and it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for Costa-Gavras and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, it won the BAFTA for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for Mikis Theodorakis, and it was nominated for Best Film, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay and the UN Award, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film. Good!

Do read the review of lhwilliams on this site, as he had a personal experience involving this film that is thoroughly believable given the times and fascinating as well.Z deals with the real-life assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis, an athlete turned doctor turned politician who believed in peace and humanity and lost his life as a result.Costas Gavras takes us to 1963, and though Greece isn't mentioned, we are in Greece and shows us the events surrounding the death of Lambrakis -- what led up to it, and what followed it.Yves Montand and Irene Pappas took roles in this -- Montand's role is not large, as he's the murdered man. And as you'll read from lhwilliams, making this film caused him plenty of problems. Costa-Gravas himself said that Irene Pappas really couldn't be touched as she didn't care, and she wanted to be in the film. Jean-Louis Trintignant was brilliant as the Examining Magistrate, who doesn't give away his decision on whether or not to carry on with the case. He's under a great deal of pressure not to prosecute the police, who stood by and let the violence happen. You really don't know what he's going to do until the last minute. The commentary at the end of the film is sad indeed, as we see that there was just no fighting the power of the state.The murder did make a difference, at least briefly, as far as the government of Greece.A very impressive film, with some marvelous acting, that has an important message.

"Z" opens with an amazing statement from the writers Jorge Semprun and Costa-Gavras: any similarity with real events, dead or living persons, is not fortuitous, it is deliberate. Indeed, more than a gauzy fictionalized dramatization of the events that surrounded the assassination of a political activist in Greece in 1963, "Z" is a powerful denunciation. Though most of us are not familiar with these events, it hardly matters because the film is beyond any geopolitical consideration, although the military officers' opening speech leaves a bizarre taste. And since only justice can be the measure of a good society, it's appropriate that the film's main protagonist is a magistrate. Jean-Louis Trintignant, behind his horn-rimmed glasses and zombie-like strictness, incarnates a legitimate form of authority, because only a zealous judge can carry the hopes of a population eager to see one of his most admirable heroes be avenged, Yves Montand, a physician, an ex-athlete and the major opponent to the country's right-wing military-dominated government. The ill-fated deputy is killed twice: first by a club hit on his head after a chaotic meeting, the second time by the corrupted system that concluded to a hazardous accident. Meaning 'he lives' in ancient Greek, "Z" becomes the protest slogan following his death, as his spirit, courage and hopes for the country still inhabited the hearts of his supporters. And served by a dizzying editing, the film deconstruct the conspiracy lying behind the murder. Preventing the meeting from being held, bribing some thugs to razz the supporters, the heads of state all conveniently attend an opera event while the assassination takes place, as a perfect alibi. In the the middle of a populous fizz, the Deputy is surprised by the arrival of an azure delivery-truck zigzagging as driven by a 'drunken' man, Yago (Renato Salvtaori), while Vago gives the lethal shot. Marcel Bozuffi, the brutal hit-man from "The French Connection", incarnates, through his cunning grin, the system's evil craziness. And on their sides, his bosses, from the General (Pierre Dux) to the Chief of Security (Julien Giuomar), and the tacit complicity of a smooth-talking François Périer as the Public Prosecutor, spare no efforts to silence the witnesses, and raze the traces of conspiracy. But the magistrate can also count a young photojournalist, played by Jacques Perrin, who seizes the opportunity to get through the infuriating procedural maze. "Z" carries the mark of a great political thriller, with a score from Mikis Theodorakis that brilliantly conveys the quest for democratic light in the tyrannic haze. But each country has a "Z", a shameful secret of state. The sight of Montand holding his head after being hit is the ultimate representation of disbelief and a desperate pray for the nightmare to end. But the nightmare only begins through the cat-and-mouse chase while the road to truth is paved by hints, false declarations or too conveniently similar statements. Yet unless the conspiracy is proved, the magistrate still refers to it as an 'accident', which makes even more significant the pivotal slip of tongue when he inadvertently refers to the act as a 'murder', entering at this point a very dangerous zone. We know we're coming close to a happy ending, and it's almost a blessing not to be familiar with the real events, because it makes the conclusion even more impacting.The irony of "Z" is to be much more cinematically efficient for foreigners, hence the film's universal acclaim, Golden Palm, Oscar for Best Foreign picture, nomination for Best Picture, most acclaimed French movie. No one can expect the ending, after the whole climactic sequence with the grizzly officers finally being interrogated in an almost zany way. Their triumph, the way they razed all the efforts, is as upsetting as the previous five minutes were zesty and enthralling. When Irene Papas, the Deputy's widow, is told about the victory but she looks at the sea, wondering if it isn't too good to be true, somewhat, her face betrays the look of a real Greek woman who knows what happened, and when the image of the young journalist freezes, the following monologue is the last smack in our faces before the score fills our heats with puzzlement and anger. Still, beyond the shock, we can relate to it, because as foreigners, "Z" reveals our own country's ugly side, like "JFK" did to Americans with the Kennedy's assassination, except that "Z" is a gutsy as if "JFK" was made in the 60's. Theodorakis was imprisoned at "Z" release; that tells you how the film was still impregnated by the cruel reality it denounces."Z" is about the zero level of governments, political practice at its most abject, at its most cynical, where it's better to blame the Americans, the systems in -isms, where the leaders have control on the slightest elements and treat education like plantation, oozing the most disgusting signs of fascism…. where the general, magnificently played by Pierre Dux, shouts that he can't compare himself to Dreyfus because "Dreyfus was guilty", a line so amoral it's better to take it with laughs."Z" is the dazing and dazzling recollection of such notions taken for granted as freedom, truth and justice, disguised in a thrilling political jigsaw puzzle; "Z" is a rally cry full of hopes and anger, "Z" is probably the only iconic title of movie history, speaking so many universal verities behind a simple letter.It is also the most significant political film ever made.