'Z' Still Thrills 40 Years Later

Forty years ago this summer, a man walked on the moon. Later that year, a series of riots around Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn gave birth to the gay rights movement. And filmmaker Costa-Gavras released "Z," his landmark political thriller based on the real-life assassination of Greek peace activist Gregoris Lambrakis by right-wing hoods. It went on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (the movie is in French and set in an indeterminate locale) and, with its generalized indictment of government corruption everywhere, packed a powerful punch.

It still does.

Rereleased in a new 35mm print to celebrate the anniversary, the film feels only a bit dated in small parts. One of the thugs (Marcel Bozzuffi) who kills the unnamed hero (Yves Montand) is demonized for being gay, for instance. But overall, it holds up, not just as a thriller -- the investigation of the murder by the sole honest official (Jean-Louis Trintignant) unspools with mounting suspense -- but as a political statement.

Costa-Gavras is known for such later Hollywood films as "Missing," about two Americans (Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek) searching for his son and her husband after Chile's 1973 military coup, and "Music Box," about a lawyer (Jessica Lange) who must defend her father against war-crime accusations. They're good films, and they showcase the director's abiding fascination with issues of institutionalized vice.

"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.

-- Michael O'Sullivan

Z PG, 127 minutes Contains scenes of mob violence and police brutality. In French with subtitles. At Landmark's E Street Cinema.