Z Reviews

I always had a weak spot for Costa-Gavras and it has been many years since I wanted to watch his magnum opus. And boy, I wasn't disappointed! Indeed, it is simply an amazing political thriller, easily one of the best I have ever seen (I still think that 'La battaglia di Algeri' is better though). To be honest, it is rather slow paced but the directing was nothing short of amazing. Personally, I always dread it when US thrillers tend to loose focus and throw some random and tedious action scenes but it never happened here. Costa-Gavras keeps instead a realistic approach, almost clinical, and the thing was so sharp, there was not even room for any sub-plots or romantic angles. The only thing which could resemble a romantic angle was the wife mourning her dead husband but even this was quite realistic. Still, the whole process remained fascinating, it played like a spellbinding thriller and it was quite chilling to discover that basically the very same events actually took place in Greece just a few years before this movie was released. Eventually, towards the end, when you think that, surprisingly, everything will end well, that justice will prevail, there is this shattering epilogue making the whole message even more resounding. Not only it is an entertaining feature but it is actually one of very few movies which are important historically and you ought to yourself to check it out. To conclude, I thought it was just brilliant and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.