CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
VAndolini
Another review employs the ignorant word "pinko" not once but THREE times. This person blathers about the French pinkos. When. I reality, the book was written by a Greek, is about a Greek, is directed by a Greek, screenplay by a Greek and spoken in Greek.apparently Mr. pinko never learned any history.
SnoopyStyle
The country is under the control of a right-wing militaristic government. Deputy (Yves Montand) leads a peace rally to end militarism, nuclear weapons and foreign alliances. The rally is opposed by an angry mob while the police stands by. Another deputy is brutally attacked by a gang of pro-military thugs after being mistaken for the leader. The leader is later mortally wounded by the same thugs. The police and the military attempt to hide the evidence and slam the opposition. A magistrate is brought in to investigate the case. He's misled and pressured by the powerful. The thugs try to hide. Nevertheless the magistrate doggedly follow the evidence.The start is a little slow as it paints the picture of the country. Then fifteen minutes in, the movie hits like a club to the head. The government thugs are seething with anger. The thugs are played to the sleaziest ugliest depths. That crowd is filled with a threatening sense of dread that is all too real. The whole incident crashes and boils uncontrollably. The investigation afterwards is compelling. There are some ups and downs. The style does have some slower moments. However it also has great insightful moments. Those moments are all the more compelling coming during that turbulent year.
Michael Terceiro
This is a great movie. I have watched this movie a few times and have enjoyed it on each viewing. it tells the story of the return of a progressive politician to a totalitarian state with a corrupt police force. His return is to deliver a speech in the lead up to general elections. The movie shows the steps which the government and the police will go to try and firstly stop him from delivering a speech and secondly from trying to silence him permanently.The main reason I like this movie is because the characters are so well developed and original. There are no clichés in this movie when it comes to any of the characters. Even somewhat minor characters have strange little personality traits, which distinguish them from the run of the mill supporting cast. For example, the witness who decides to come forward to the police turns out to be quite a complex character when one discovers his motivations are coming forward.The only person that seems a bit wasted in this movie is Irene Papas , who virtually says nothing through the whole movie. Indeed she does little more than make a succession of intense facial expressions throughout the movie. Despite the heavy themes that this movie is seeking to explore, there is also quite a lot of humour. I particularly liked the scenes which showed the desperate attempts by a succession of police officers attempting to escape the media through a locked door.
Boba_Fett1138
This is a truly exceptional and special movie, in about every way imaginable.The style, the story, the acting, the directing approach by Costa-Gavras and way of storytelling. It's all what makes this movie a great watch and perhaps also atypical for a French production, of its time.The overall style of the movie is what you could describe as a typical '70's style. The same goes for its approach and way of storytelling. The thing that we now consider to be a typical '70's style is a style that already started first out in the late '60's, which this movie is also a part of. It's a political movie, which might sound very boring to some but trust me, this is a far from boring movie. It's far too fast going and captivating for that. The entire movie also feels so extremely realistic, that it made me wonder if it got based on true events, which actually turned out to be the case. It's based on a Greek incident, were a democratic politician got attacked and murdered, by right-wing extremists, after giving an anti-war speech. The same thing happens in this movie and is what the entire movie is centered around.The movie doesn't necessarily have one main character, which was an interesting and unusual choice, that however worked out very well for the movie, as it turned out. Instead of just following one character, it follows a whole bunch of them, each involved with the incident. The one is trying to investigate, the other is trying to cover it up, while another is trying to avoid getting caught and another and simply suffering from the consequences of the incident. It shows the events leading up to the incident and afterward, from many different angles, which gives the movie of course a lot of depth and multiple layers and is also part of the reason why this movie gets such a great and intriguing one to watch.Something that is also really worth mentioning and helps to make the movie, is its musical score by Mikis Theodorakis!An absolute must-see, at the very least for every movie lover!9/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/