Word: costa
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State of Siege. A film of major significance: Costa-Gavras (Z, The Confession) powerfully indicts covert American action to support Latin American dictatorships. Yves Montand plays a character who represents Daniel Mitrione -- the AID officer killed by Tupamaro insurgents in 1970 -- but emphasized his kidnapping less than his previous activities: training the Uruguayan police, teaching torture, repression, use of explosives. The film is committed, not biased -- and based to a surprisingly large degree on public information. 1973. (At the Charles Cinema, Boston...
...other part of the film's importance is due to the politics surrounding it. In Z, Costa-Gavras won the love of the liberal and left intelligentsia for his condemnation of Greek fascism. The liberals stayed with him through the anti-Stalinist Confession, but many further to the left criticized it as too concerned with so-called humanist questions rather than political questions. As a result, all of the straight-line CP actors left State of Siege early on in the filming...
There was also trouble from the right. The political stance of the film made it impossible to shoot in most Latin American countries except Chile and Venezuela. Costa-Gavras was not going to be allowed to work in Chile until President Allende heard about the film, read Solina's script, and then gave the okay -- not because he necessarily agreed with the politics, but because he thought it was a good script and would be an interesting film...
...MORE general sense, the audience response reveals the film's political sophistication. Not trying to be a revolutionary in terms of film technique, Costa-Gavras understands that to be effective in communicating its message a political film must take symbols which are widespread within a society and change the affective and intellectual content of those terms. In other words, to communicate persuasively a particular political message to an audience, a film must not put its audience to sleep. A film must be able to make its point clearly to those whom it wishes to persuade...
...Costa-Gavras is not so simple as to portray the Tupamaros as perfect angels. They are dedicated and professional revolutionaries. The interrogator Hugo (played with proper understatement by Jacques Weber, a newcomer to film) is absolutely ruthless in his refusal to countenance the lies Santore feeds him about the nature of Santore's work in Uruguay. Whenever Santore makes an allegation, the Tupamaro's information is so good that he is forced to assent by silence. Hugo shows him a photograph of two Brazilian police officials accused of torture. Santore denies he knows them. He is shown two more -- again...