Costas Gavras Talks About Z, 40 Years Later June 2009 By John Esther http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/21610

A riveting action thriller about political assassination at the highest levels, this year marks the 40th anniversary of Z. Not the magazine in front of you, but the Academy Award-winning 1969 film co-written and directed by Costas Gavras (AKA Costa-Gavras) about a Judge (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) who looks into the death of the Deputy (also referred to as Comrade Z, played by Yves Montand) who was about to give a speech on nuclear disarmament. Deliberately dissident, claiming its intention to resemble the U.S.-backed military coup of Greece in the early 1960s and the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Gregoris Lambrakis in 1963, Gavras's film touched a nerve with audiences still reeling from the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations. While Gavras has made many political films—Missing, Music Box, and Amen—his film titled after the banned letter, which was a symbolic reminder that Lambrakis (he) lives on—remains his masterpiece.