State of Siege (1972)

Simply Perfect

Instant Favorite.

I wanted to but couldn't!

Excellent but underrated film

Yes, a Costa Gavras movie is always recognizable, as a Yves Boisset one, the ONLY two French directors who dared speaking of political actual facts which other directors were afraid to talk about. In France, it's not like in America, where film makers are free to speak of everything, see for instance ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN or EXECUTIVE ACTION, speaking of Watergate file or JFK assassination...In France, if you except Yves Boisset or Costa Gavras, no one, even today, would dare to speak of this. OK, I admit that Costa Gavras, in this film, doesn't talk of French events, nor as he did for Z, but when he made UN HOMME DE TROP or SECTION SPECIALE, that was directly related to French history. The Costa Gavras scheme is here the same as in Z. He uses an event to emphasize the political dimension just afterwards. Even in using a thriller topic, see Z for instance...I would have loved seeing Costa Gavras directing a film about war in Algeria and OAS organization. I don't think he did. I won't repeat what the other users told about this one, but I repeat, you deal here with a typical Costa Gavras' feature, which I could tell the director's name without seeing the opening credits.

A superior film in every way. I last viewed it Stateside, dubbed into English, on a public-television broadcast perhaps 25 years ago. It appears available on VHS at collectors' prices, but I'd very much prefer to see it treated on DVD as was lately done to "Z," remastered, subtitled, and with as many bonus features as possible.You may recognize more of Costa-Gavras's stock players besides Yves Montand. One noticeable stylistic difference: Given the grimness of its scenario "Z" occasionally bemuses, but State of Siege does not, even when Theodorakis's theme song tries to distract you.This said, for its narrative style and documentary look, is State of Siege a representation of a true story or merely "based upon"? At least this American chooses not to judge without having the unalloyed facts arrayed before him. The film did succeed in the sense that it made me want to learn more about its subject.The long out-of-print companion book contains Solinas's screenplay, stills from the film, a statement by Montand, and supplemental published materials presumably used in research with an extensive bibliography. Perhaps its most revealing component is the transcribed interview by Nicholas Ray of Solinas and Costa-Gavras, which mentions among other things tape recordings of the captive on whom Montand's character is based. Yet it is Costa-Gavras' final statement on the choice of filming location that is at once funny, sad and chilling in hindsight, and provides ample proof that times change.

This is Costa Gavra's finest film. Not only its message, and the brilliant actor's are world class. Also the cinematography, the script and the cut. Yves Montand's character is one of his strongest performances in his whole career. The whole cast is great. The guerrilla's as well as the secret police and the army generals. And of course the legend of German Cinema, O.E.Hasse as the intellectual journalist investigating the truths behind the kidnappings. State of Siege is probably not 100% objective but it shows the truth exactly. It's not speculative, naive or heroizing at all. a true intellectual film, but as exiting and riveting as a perfect Hollywood blockbuster. It's actually a quite cold blooded view at the history of that era. The story plays in an anonymous country in Latin America, and that's a great move by Costa Gavras because the events shown in the film did happen the same way not only in all countries of Latin America but also in many other countries all over the world. I had to leave Turkey after the coup d'etat in 1980 and I can tell you that the situation in Turkey then was exactly identical to the events that take place in this film. The dark atmosphere, the oppression and the violence are always the same. I watch this movie every time it's screened on German TV. And that's at least once a year. Z is another flawless masterpiece by Costa Gavras, and much more popular than State of Siege. But State of Siege has a melancholic atmosphere that I love so much. So it's not only a great experience for politically interested viewers. Also I want to mention that there's NO American movie in the same quality. and modern cinema is not able to produce such fantastic movies anymore.

State of Siege is an exceptional account of how the Uruguayan underground revolution (Tupamaros) developed an extremely challenging resistance against both Uruguayan dictatorship and other parties such as USA and multi nationals who financed such dictatorship. The film describes in great detail the meticulous process used during the resistance, which in turn was adopted in other parts of Latin-America and Asia. Having lived in Uruguay during this time (1970s)i was amazed at the accuracy of the story and the ability by the story teller and the characters to convey a story/narrative that at the time of filming was very much a well hidden secret by both the establishment and its supporters, and the Tupamaros. Great research, and a great opportunity for those who are interested in Latin America political system as well as getting an effective snapshot of a time in history.