État de siège

"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.

Both political act and historical testimony, this magnificent film by Costa Gavras must be shown to the younger generations and even be part of history lessons! It is a real immersion in the fight between the far left activists of Tupamaros in Montevideo in the 1970s against an authoritarian and repressive state apparatus. Above all, it describes in detail the parallel structures set up by the American services under the disguise of assistance and without any legality, like death squadrons as they will be called in other Latin American countries. The methods are shown in all their brutality: violence, torture and arbitrary assassinations. The film's script is based on actual events, only the names have been changed. Yves Montand's performance is all the more impressive when you consider his political commitment against fascism and arbitrariness. Other excellent cast include Jacques Weber, Renato Salvatori and Jean-Luc Bideau.

Costa-Gavras' movies are often the best examples of how art can be used to educate the audience. And, State of Siege is certainly one of the most ambitious and focused attempts.

The movie is a careful presentation, an expose, on the methods and procedures of law enforcement and state police in Latin America. Furthermore, it paints the picture of a kind of American neo-imperialism or neo-colonialism.

The movie is bold, the movie is courageous, but most of all it is smart and intelligent. That being said the strength of the film is the attention of detail and it's patience. Every situation is set up and for everything, there is a payoff. Nobody does films likes this nowadays, with hundreds of extras, everything shot on location. This is one extreme form of filmmaking, where there is the least amount of shortcuts and trickery. The movie almost feels like a film version of the Grand Reportage of old. A careful mix of investigation and photojournalism. That is why you do not mind being lectured. Because the film is beautiful and has rich texture, you do not mind sitting through police violence, death squad meetings and political corruption. The text of the movie might be heavy but is balanced by the visual style.

It may be at times too smart: some of the scenes may be too wordy and whenever there is action, it is subordinate to the dialog between characters. There is a lot of expository dialog in this film, and usually this a fault, because it goes against "show don't tell". Yet, here it does not harm the argument. The way the situation is laid out in dialog between Santore and his captors is initially dry and infuriating, but as Santore perception shifts it becomes engaging. The other channel of exposition is the reporter who is merely covering the story from the outside. It almost feels as it is the most interesting part of the film given that Santore's plot is rather stale, he gets kidnapped and they talk about it for an hour. The political plot could have been the meat of the movie but unfortunately, it does not go far enough, it is treated as B-plot. However, it still functions for its political themes. My favorite scene is the sequence where all the government ministers climb out of their cars. That is cinema in its purest form. It is complete fiction but it feels real.

You can regret that the movie is not as strong narratively. There is no a lot of action, in terms of narrative. Nothing happens in the course of the movie, only minor events. The story should be the last days of Phillip Michael Santore, but it is not what the movie is about.

For that reason it does not stand at the top of Costa-Gavras' oeuvre. On the topic of government corruption and the police and fascism love story, Gravas' "Z" is the best.

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.

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.