It's hard to overstate the impact that this Oscar-winning procedural thriller had in 1969, on a world roiling in political activism, repression, and discord.
Comment
01/15/10
Z (1969)
91
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:35
Fresh:32
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8.1/10
Consensus: Powerfully effective, this anti-fascist political thriller stands out as both high-conscience melodrama and high-tempo action movie.
Theatrical Release:Mar 13, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: "Z" is a classic Cold-War political thriller, based on a true story. It concerns the assassination of Zei, a popular pacifist and anti-nuclear leader. The aftermath of the incident reveals a deeper... [More]
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Reviews for Z
Top CriticRequired viewing for any lover of political thrillers.
12/08/09
... thrilling, compelling, run through with vivid supporting characters and narrative twists and turns that have the dramatic punch of fiction even when based on real events.
12/06/09
Four decades later, this glimpse into the machinations of political violence, intolerance, willful ignorance, and systemic oppression has lost none of its urgent relevance.
12/03/09
a relentlessly fast-paced political expose that has not a single wasted second
10/28/09
It's still an eye-catching, fast-paced watch.
10/26/09
The cyclonic drive is all heat and outrage
09/25/09
Its mere existence is testimony to the fact that no matter how hard those in power struggle to conceal their misdeeds, truth will eventually win out.
08/28/09
Z, whose title is a stand-in for the Greek word zei ('he lives'), takes us back to where that fascination all began for Costa-Gavras and shows us that, for the rest of us, it hasn't ever really ended.
07/10/09
Top CriticIn its slick cinematic urgency and its outrage, Z still has the power to shake you up.
04/23/09
Top CriticZ combines the intellectual heft of revolution-themed films like The Battle of Algiers with the drop-dead cool of mod touchstones like Blow Out or Le Samouraï.
03/13/09
Mikis Theodorakis provides a stirring musical score of traditional Greek music.
03/13/09
This concession to cheap psychological realism still manages to stand out and stick in the craw.
03/11/09
Years later, Costa-Gavras’ shrewd contrivance and superb form hold up impressively.
03/11/09
Fascism has been driven underground, but a dose of Costa-Gavra's electrifyingly brutal 1969 political thriller Z will rattle you all the same.
03/11/09
Top CriticForty years later, Z remains one of the most thrilling and urgent political thrillers ever made, a model for socially-conscious melodramas (and Costa-Gavras best picture).
03/11/09
The military junta that ensued in Greece gave the film a sense of urgency approved by Cannes and Oscar alike.
03/10/09
Top CriticThis movie is for those who prefer for there to be meat on a screenplay's skeleton and who don't demand far-fetched conspiracy theories that play fast and loose with the facts.
02/20/08
Top CriticA chilling, manipulative rollercoaster ride.
02/20/08
A punchy political pic [from the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos] that mixes action, violence, and conspiracy on a robust, lavish scale.
02/20/08
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