Gavras successfully combined elements of popular genres, such as crime films, thrillers and court dramas with a pronounced political bent in revealing dictatorship and authoritarian methods



In many countries the student rebellion of 1968 was in fact the culmination of dissatisfaction with the existing social position of western civil society (especially in France and Germany) as well as the socialist (from Poland to Yugoslavia), which was a great influence on many famous authors from Godard to Žilnik who as a result were redirected towards political film that at the time was one of the dominant tendencies in international modern and alternative cinema. This movement’s main limitation was the fact that, in spite of the authors’ wishes to change audiences’ opinions through this most popular artistic medium, almost all the people who watched these films agreed with their directors and therefore the changing of public opinion remained minimal. Costa-Gavras had a much bigger influence as he was the only author who successfully combined elements of popular genres, such as crime films, thrillers and court dramas with a pronounced political bent in revealing dictatorship and authoritarian methods (such as tortures and murders) in manipulation with society in general as well as ordinary people regarding their acquisition of power and wealth. Thus Gavras’ films won the most prestigious international awards as well as managing to reach numerous audiences who often met the darkest sides of the modern world through his films.


Costa-Gavras (whose real name is Constantin Gavras) was born in Greece. During WW II his father was a member of the Greek leftist resistance movement and was arrested after the war for being a Communist sympathizer. This event had a great influence on Constantin’s decision to move to France to study. After a few years he enrolled in the IDHEC in Paris, one of the most prominent film schools in the world. After graduating he worked as an assistant to many famous French directors. His first feature film was the very well-done crime movie The Sleeping Car Murders (1965). In 1969, he made his most famous film, Z, which became an exemplar of political film to the wide audience as well as winning an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. It was inspired by the true events surrounding the murder of the popular Greek opposition leader Grigoris Lambrakis, which was the first and the crucial step toward a military coup after which the right lieutenant junta took over the country and established its fifteen-year long dictatorship. Many people thought that Gavras chose this particular story because of his Greek origins but later it became apparent that similar topics were present in almost all of his films and that film portrayals of (successfully carried out) conspiracy theories were the foundation of his important opus.


In this program we are showing State of Siege (1973), which is based on the story of the kidnapping of an American embassy official in Uruguay carried out by the members of the Tupamaros urban guerrilla movement. This tight story reveals the neocolonial mechanisms by which the USA tries to exercise its powers in South America. Revelation of these practices is even more dramatic in his film Missing (1982) about an American journalist who goes missing during Pinochet’s military coup against the democratically elected government in Chile in 1973 and his family’s private investigation. Due to its layered and impressive portrayal of these dramatic events the film won the Golden Palm in Cannes, as well as (in spite of fierce criticism from official American politicians) an Oscar for Best Screenplay Based on a Literary Work. Womanlight (1979), is one of the exceptions in Gavras’ opus. Although underrated at the time, it was in fact a very interesting and complex love drama (with a few Bunuel-inspired elements) that underscores Gavras’ talent for creating lots of interesting and full-blooded characters, which is somewhat less noticeable in his other films due to the highly dramatic events surrounding the characters.


Often the importance of topics that Gavras chooses envelops the audience so much that they do not pay attention to some very creative and successful solutions to directing challenges. However, when seeing several of his films in as short a period as this program presents them, you can notice how well he uses all of his talent in order to support his sincere engagement in the fight against evil. Unlike many other directors (even in Croatia) who believe that only a great topic guarantees a great film and take that path in order to achieve their own affirmation, Gavras completely gives in to his engagement and it is in fact that passion which helps him to accomplish such works that should be appreciated. (Tomislav Kurelec)