État de siège

In the early 70's, in Uruguay, the revolutionary group Tupamaro kidnaps an American trainer of torture and the Brazilian consul, and through the interrogation of the abducted American, the big picture of Uruguay (and other Latin America countries) is reported.

"État de Siege" is a testimony of the history of Latin America in the 70's, during my childhood and adolescence. All the democratic governments elected by people were discharged through coup d'état by military dictatorships supported by the American government, the police and military forces trained in tortures by American advisors, student and union leaderships destroyed and revolutionary groups unsuccessfully fighting against the dictatorial regime. The fantastic director Costa Gravas exposes this serious wound in Latin America and this denunciation shall never be forgotten by the next generations. This movie remains amazingly real and important, sometimes recalling a documentary. Only this month this film was released on DVD in Brazil, and it is a worthwhile investment. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): 'Estado de Sítio" ("State of Siege")

On one hand, the history of USA interfering in smaller countries is a very known fact. On the other hand, this is what every other super power did in history. I am Greek, the Athenians did the same. The Romans. The Soviets. Everyone who became powerful, used that power on others. So even though I criticize USA's actions outside USA, I disagree with people who see the white house as the only nasty entity in our human history. But history is history and things that really happened, cannot be erased or ignored. The Americans caused a lot of pain in Latin America. Simple fact.

This movie is about the kidnapping and execution of Dan Mitrione, an American former police chief, who was roaming Latin American countries, doing nasty work for his government. He was accused by the Tupamaros group of being responsible for teaching local police and army, methods of torture, propaganda and espionage. The Tupamaros kidnapped him and executed him, even though, as in most of the similar cases around the world, a lot of things remained in the dark forever.

Gavras showed some serious balls by making this in 1972. Cold war era was not exactly a forgiving era.

The film is a political thriller of course, so it is not about beautiful scenery or extremely intelligent dialogue. It is focused on telling a real story and Gavras delivers. All the details about the nasty business of the Americans in Latin America are there. How they posed as anything but policemen, and how they trained local police on how to use bombs and torture techniques. Gavras also avoids glorifying the Tupamaros.

Yves Montand is definitely a plus. I rate this with a high score because it is a film that will make people think. Think about politics, and systems, and super powers affecting human lives.

Watch it.

I agree that this film should be released on DVD. It is a great companion piece to Z and Missing.

Costa-Gavros managed to produce a stinging indictment of US involvement in South American politics, without drawing his villains as caricatures. His characters, policemen and revolutionaries, come off as profoundly human, flawed but not themselves monsters, though they are involved in monstrous acts. The torture scenes are grueling, and were probably as responsible for the film's official reception.

I saw this at the age of 15, when it was in the theaters. I confused it with the Eric Ambler novel of the same name. It had a profound personal influence on me. I was able to rent it once, about 15 years ago but haven't run across it since.

"State of Siege" is a terrific movie with the same look and feel as Costa-Gavras's other classic of the period, "Z." Set in Uruguay, "State of Siege" was actually filmed in Chile during the Allende presidency, and was ironically released shortly before the coup that overthrow Allende (the subject, of course, of "Missing," another Costa-Gavras film).

"Z" was released on DVD last year in a newly restored version with excellent additional materials (modern interviews of Costa Gavras and Jorge Semprun, who wrote the screenplay, as well as interviews with the actors). My question is, when will "State of Siege" receive the same treatment? It is not available for sale in the US in any form, and is almost impossible to find as a rental. Now that "Z" is available in such an excellent edition, its about time "State of Siege" was too.

What is most significant about this movie is how few have seen it. Only 66 people have voted on it here whereas over 700 have voted on Z, its counterpart and also a fine movie. 'State of Siege' follows the realities and deceptions concerning the CIA involvement in South America. The movie is uplifting and depressing, humorous and appalling. Viewers are forced to meander through contrasting elements deeply personal and highly political. I saw the film once when it was first released and have not been able to find it since, yet I remember virtually every scene. It would be wonderful to restore it to full circulation.