Z

Costa-Gravras' film Z (1969) may have lost some of its urgency as it was based on incidents that occurred in Greece in the mid 60s, it still remain a better than average political thriller. Zei (Z) meanss "he lives." The Greek-born director Costas-Gravas based this left-wing political thriller on the novel by Vassili Vassilikos. The film is based on the 1963 killing at a political rally in Thessaloniki of the independent socialist pacifist parliament deputy Lambrakis, in which the investigation by a young magistrate named Christos Sartzetakis uncovered a network of police and government corruption. Gavras sets it in an unnamed Mediterranean country that's clearly Greece (it was shot in Algeria and backed by the French). The film is a reaction to the oppressive right-wing military junta in Greece. Mikis Theodorakis provides a stirring musical score of traditional Greek music. The last third in particular is something akin to a courtroom drama as the state attorney unfolds the right wing conspiracy. The coda of the film was unexpected but appropriate for the film and the time.