History Film / Z

A 1969 Algerian–French political thriller based on the assassination of Greek politician Gregoris Lambrakis, directed by Creator/CostaGavras.

In an unnamed country (hinted to be Greece), an outspoken politician (named only as "the Deputy") is struck down after a peace rally and hospitalized. When he dies, a public prosecutor (Creator/JeanLouisTrintignant) is sent to look into his death and finds corruption, coverup, and much more.

->''"Il est vivant!"''
-->-- French phrase meaning "He lives!"

* PyrrhicVillainy: While the General and his cronies have undoubtedly "won" by the end, the pretense that the country is anything other than a military dictatorship has been destroyed, and the ridiculous and lengthy list of things they've banned strongly suggests that without any checks on their power whatsoever the same foolishness that lead to their horribly transparent assassination is going to ultimately lead the coup to disaster. Which it did.

* LongList: The ending crawl gives one for stuff the junta banned: peace movements, strikes, labor unions, long hair on men, Music/TheBeatles, other modern and popular music ("la musique populaire"), Creator/{{Sophocles}}, Creator/LeoTolstoy, Creator/{{Aeschylus}}, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, Creator/EugeneIonesco, Creator/JeanPaulSartre, Creator/AntonChekhov, Creator/HaroldPinter, Creator/EdwardAlbee, Creator/MarkTwain, Creator/SamuelBeckett, Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and "''the letter Z which in Ancient Greek means "he is alive"''".

* OneLetterTitle: "Z". It refers to the letter that the opposers to the military junta wrote on the walls to signal ther dissent.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Public Prosecutor is a conservative who clearly doesn't like the Deputy's party when they happen to meet face to face, and whose initial thoughts when it seems increasingly likely that the Deputy's death is a murder is that it is the work of communists, either as a sympathy ploy or leftist squabbling. However, as the facts of the case become clearer (and the General's interference becomes more blatant), he winds up working with the Deputy's party to bring the conspiracy to light.

* ClenchedTeethTeamwork: The Public Prosecutor is a conservative who clearly doesn't like the Deputy's party when they happen to meet face to face, and whose initial thoughts when it seems increasingly likely that the Deputy's death is a murder is that it is the work of communists, either as a sympathy ploy or leftist squabbling. However, as the facts of the case become clearer (and the General's interference becomes more blatant), he winds up working with the Deputy's party to bring the conspiracy to light.

* EnemyMine: The Public Prosecutor is a conservative who clearly doesn't like the Deputy's party when they happen to meet face to face, and whose initial thoughts when it seems increasingly likely that the Deputy's death is a murder is that it is the work of communists, either as a sympathy ploy or leftist squabbling. However, as the facts of the case become clearer (and the General's interference becomes more blatant), he winds up working with the Deputy's party to bring the conspiracy to light.

* CassandraTruth: The day of the murder a woman, Ilya Coste, anonimously reports a death threat against the Deputy, but it is too vague and the peace rally is not cancelled.
* ChestOfMedals: When the officers involved in the conspiracy appears before the Public Prosecutor to be indicted eacch of them has a bigger chestful of medals than the previous one.

** History since 1969 provides some comfort for that Downer Ending. The military junta that took over in 1967 (and was still running things in Greece when the film was released) was toppled in 1974. The brave prosecutor became President of Greece in 1985. This film had a ''strong'' influence on those events.

A 1969 French political thriller based on the assassination of Greek politician Gregoris Lambrakis, directed by Creator/CostaGavras.

A 1969 French political thriller based on the assassination of Greek politician Gregoris Lambrakis. It is directed by Costa-Gavras.

* {{sacrificial lion}} Manuel, who'd survived an earlier assassination attempt by the conspirators, ifs one of the few major characters who wasn't just arrested or exiled, but murdered, according to the epilogue.

* WhamLine: When the witnesses say that the death of the Deputy was a "murder", the Public Prosecutor fastidiously corrects them saying that, unless otherwise proven, it must be presumed that the Deputy's death was the result of an "accident". Then, towards the end of the film, while he is interrogating a member of the conspiracy:

* LongList: The ending crawl gives one for stuff the junta banned: peace movements, strikes, labor unions, long hair on men, Music/TheBeatles, other modern and popular music ("la musique populaire"), Creator/{{Sophocles}}, Creator/LeoTolstoy, Creator/{{Aeschylus}}, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, Creator/EugeneIonesco, Creator/JeanPaulSartre, Creator/AntonChekhov, Creator/HaroldPinter, Creator/EdwardAlbee, Creator/MarkTwain, Creator/SamuelBeckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and "''the letter Z which in Ancient Greek means "he is alive"''".

* TheBadGuysAreCops: What the prosecutor comes to realize during his investigation.
* BatmanGambit: The Judge accuses Vago of being a communist, knowing that he will likely reveal his right wing ties to refute the charges.
* BlackShirt: Almost all [[AgentProvocateur the troublemakers]] at the demonstration turn out to be members of CROC, an anti-Communist organization run by the [[BigBad chief of police]].

* CarFu: Done with the delivery cart, and later a car, failing to assassinate the lawyer Manuel.
* CassandraTruth: Since the death threat from Yago, reported by Ilya Coste, is too vague, the meeting is not cancelled.
* ChestOfMedals: Each of the officers in the indictment scene has a bigger chestful of medals than the previous officer.

* DownerEnding: And how! After the prosecutor has arrested all the conspirators, the ending crawl says that the junta takes over, [[ShootTheShaggyDog pardons everyone involved in the assassination, sends the activists to prison, key witnesses die, the prosecutor is removed from the case and the junta proceeds to ban nearly everything they don't like]].

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Shown over and over by the CROC and future junta members, as they assume that every right-minded citizen will of course approve of their campaign of terror and assassination.

* HopeSpot: The magistrate unravels the conspiracy, and the audience is treated to a montage of various military conspirators being charged with murder and sent to trial. Then the [[DownerEnding ending]] happens.
* InsistentTerminology: The magistrate repeatedly corrects anyone who refers to the assassination as a murder, preferring to call it an "incident." When the magistrate switches to calling it murder, the indictments of military officers start rolling in.
* IntrepidReporter: One of them helps provide the evidence that drives the investigation. He even provides the ending narration [[spoiler:until the part where he gets arrested]]

* LongList: The ending crawl gives one for stuff the junta banned: peace movements, strikes, labor unions, long hair on men, Music/TheBeatles, other modern and popular music ("la musique populaire"), Creator/{{Sophocles}}, Creator/LeoTolstoy, Creator/{{Aeschylus}}, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, Creator/EugeneIonesco, Creator/JeanPaulSartre, Creator/AntonChekhov, Creator/HaroldPinter, Creator/EdwardAlbee, Creator/MarkTwain, Creator/SamuelBeckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

* OneLetterTitle

* TheSixties

* TheSociopath: Vago. The man is all cheery grins while assaulting people without provocation, and has no qualms of engaging in outright murder. And he's a pedophile to boot.