Z · reception & legacy

1969 · Costa-Gavras

How Z has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A genuine sensation in 1969 — a box-office hit that won the Foreign Language Oscar and, remarkably, a Best Picture nomination too. Today it's less watched than the 70s paranoid thrillers it made possible, but cinephiles treat it as the founding document of the political thriller.

What's debated

The perennial fight: is Z great cinema or brilliant agitprop — does its propulsive thriller machinery sharpen its politics or flatten them into entertainment?

Its footprint

Its opening disclaimer is one of the most quoted title cards ever: any resemblance to real events 'is not accidental. It is INTENTIONAL.' The film's DNA runs straight through All the President's Men, JFK, and basically every 'based on true events' political thriller since.

Where it stands

A 'you must have seen this' pillar of political cinema — Criterion-canonised, and the film every list of great political thrillers starts with.

★ Did you know? Z was submitted to the Oscars by Algeria (where it was shot, since it couldn't be made in junta-ruled Greece) and became the first film ever nominated for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film — while being banned in Greece itself, whose junta had also placed composer Mikis Theodorakis under arrest.