State of Siege (1972)
(État de siège)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: col 130m
Director: Costa-Gavras
Cast: Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O.E. Hasse, Jean-Luc Bideau
Synopsis:
Three members of the international community, chosen for the assistance they have given to the repressive government in power, are abducted from the streets of Montevideo and interrogated while being held hostage. The interest of the international media centres on an American among them, a technician who would appear to have nothing to do with politics at all.
Review:
The director turned his attention to Latin America, and not for the last time, with this absorbing political thriller. Whatever the wisdom of casting the familiar Montand, who had become his long-term collaborator, the latter contributes a fine performance, albeit mouthing sentiments it would be hard to imagine coming from any American. Franco Solinas worked on the screenplay, and it is not hard to see elements of Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers here, particularly in the film's flashback structure which also recalls Costa-Gavras' greatest success, Z (1969). While suffering from over-extended sequences of police road blocks and revolutionary activity, the film offers a passionate indictment of foreign interference in the Continent's nascent democracies, invariably for commercial gain.
(État de siège)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: col 130m
Director: Costa-Gavras
Cast: Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O.E. Hasse, Jean-Luc Bideau
Synopsis:
Three members of the international community, chosen for the assistance they have given to the repressive government in power, are abducted from the streets of Montevideo and interrogated while being held hostage. The interest of the international media centres on an American among them, a technician who would appear to have nothing to do with politics at all.
Review:
The director turned his attention to Latin America, and not for the last time, with this absorbing political thriller. Whatever the wisdom of casting the familiar Montand, who had become his long-term collaborator, the latter contributes a fine performance, albeit mouthing sentiments it would be hard to imagine coming from any American. Franco Solinas worked on the screenplay, and it is not hard to see elements of Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers here, particularly in the film's flashback structure which also recalls Costa-Gavras' greatest success, Z (1969). While suffering from over-extended sequences of police road blocks and revolutionary activity, the film offers a passionate indictment of foreign interference in the Continent's nascent democracies, invariably for commercial gain.
(État de siège)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: col 130m
Director: Costa-Gavras
Cast: Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O.E. Hasse, Jean-Luc Bideau
Synopsis:
Three members of the international community, chosen for the assistance they have given to the repressive government in power, are abducted from the streets of Montevideo and interrogated while being held hostage. The interest of the international media centres on an American among them, a technician who would appear to have nothing to do with politics at all.
Review:
The director turned his attention to Latin America, and not for the last time, with this absorbing political thriller. Whatever the wisdom of casting the familiar Montand, who had become his long-term collaborator, the latter contributes a fine performance, albeit mouthing sentiments it would be hard to imagine coming from any American. Franco Solinas worked on the screenplay, and it is not hard to see elements of Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers here, particularly in the film's flashback structure which also recalls Costa-Gavras' greatest success, Z (1969). While suffering from over-extended sequences of police road blocks and revolutionary activity, the film offers a passionate indictment of foreign interference in the Continent's nascent democracies, invariably for commercial gain.