History Film / Z

* ShootTheShaggyDog: After all that trouble...things just to FromBadToWorse.

* CampGay : Vago. [[AllGaysArePedophiles Of the "likes young boys" variety.]]

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

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 is sent to look into his death and finds corruption, coverup, and much more.

* DownerEnding: And how! After the prosecutor has arrested all the conspirators, the ending crawl says that the junta takes over, key witnesses die, the prosecutor is removed from the case, and the junta proceeds to ban nearly everything they don't like.

* 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"), Sophocles, LeoTolstoy, Aeschylus, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, EugeneIonesco, Creator/JeanPaulSartre, AntonChekhov, HaroldPinter, EdwardAlbee, MarkTwain, SamuelBeckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

* BlackShirt: Almost all the troublemakers at the demonstration turn out to be a member of CROC, an anti-Communist organization run by the [[BigBad chief of police]].

* DownerEnding: And how! After the prosecutor has arrested all the conspirators, the ending crawl says that the junta takes over, key witness die, the prosecutor is removed from the case, and the junta proceeds to ban nearly everything they don't like.

* GeneralRipper: The General's (NoNameGiven) opening speech reveals him to be obsessively anti-communist, and given to bizarre, florid statements and tortured metaphors. [[YesMan And everyone defers to his authority]]. Later scenes reveal he's also an anti-Semite. [[spoiler:At the end, he reveals his involvement by using a strange phrase that's been popping up in talks with CROC members.]]

* OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope: Subverted with the opening crawl.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The movie is based on the 1963 assassination of left-wing politician Gregoris Lambrakis, which played a part in destabilising Greece and allowing the military coup of 1967. The main characters are [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed very blatantly based on real persons]]: the Deputy is Lambrakis, the Magistrate is Christos Sartzetakis (who was twice arrested and tortured by the junta, and later served as President between 1985-1990), the General is arguably Georgios Papadopoulos, and so on.

* SoundtrackDissonance : An upbeat rock instrumental plays after the Deputy’s critical condition is disclosed.
* TapOnTheHead : Happens repeatedly, with realistic results in terms of concussion. The truncheon blow to the Deputy’s head results in fatal brain damage.
* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: Memorably inverted with the opening faux-disclaimer. See the page quote above.

* 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"), Sophocles, LeoTolstoy, Aeschylus, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, EugeneIonesco, Jean-PaulSartre, AntonChekhov, HaroldPinter, EdwardAlbee, MarkTwain, SamuelBeckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

* 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"), Sophocles, Leo Tolstoy, Aeschylus, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, Eugene Ionesco, Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, MarkTwain, Samuel Beckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

->''"[[ThisIsAWorkOfFiction Any resemblance to real events, to persons living or dead, is not accidental. It is DELIBERATE.]]"''

** 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.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: During the demonstration/assassination scene, there's a close-up of the police holding their clubs at waist-level and wriggling them vigorously. No further comment needed?

* CampGay : Vago.

* 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"), Sophocles, Leo Tolstoy, Aeschylus, writing that Creator/{{Socrates}} was homosexual, Eugene Ionesco, Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, MarkTwain, Samuel Beckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

* RunningGag: The military officers all vainly try to exit via a locked back door to escape the journalists after getting formally charged one after the other.

* GeneralRipper: The General's (NoNameGiven) opening speech reveals him to be obsessively anticommunist, and given to bizarre, florid statements and tortured metaphors. [[YesMan And everyone defers to his authority]]. Later scenes reveal he's also an antisemite.[[spoiler:At the end, he reveals his involvement by using a strange phrase that's been popping up in talks with CROC members.]]

->-- The opening crawl.

->-- French phrase meaning "He lives!"

* BannedInChina: In what should really be no surprise, the movie was banned in Greece until the junta was overthrown in 1974.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: See "DownerEnding," above.

* 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"), Sophocles, Leo Tolstoy, Aeschylus, writing that {{Socrates}} was homosexual, Eugene Ionesco, Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, MarkTwain, Samuel Beckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

** The movie's composer, Mikis Theodorakis, was himself arrested, detained, sent into internal exile and interned in a concentration camp at Oropos before being released to exile in France at the intervention of Radical Party leader Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber.

A 1969 French political thriller based on the assassination of Greek politician Gregoris Lambrakis.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: After all that trouble...things just get [[ItGotWorse even worse]].

* ArcWords: After the Deputy dies, this is what "Z" becomes, since it refers to a popular Greek slogan, meaning "he lives."

* RippedFromTheHeadlines

* LongList: The ending crawl gives one for stuff the junta banned: : peace movements, strikes, labor unions, long hair on men, TheBeatles, other modern and popular music ("la musique populaire"), Sophocles, Leo Tolstoy, Aeschylus, writing that Socrates was homosexual, Eugene Ionesco, Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, Mark Twain, Samuel Beckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math, and ''the letter Z''.

!Tropes included in this work:

->''[[ThisIsAWorkOfFiction Any resemblance to real events, to persons living or dead, is not accidental. It is DELIBERATE.]]''

->''Il est vivant!''