Post by klep on May 7, 2018 6:44:22 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/7: Z
CONSPIRACY WEEK!
Watching Z in America today feels a little uncomfortable. Costa-Gavras' 1969 film was based on a book by Vassilis Vassilikos and is a fictionalization of an actual event in Greek politics earlier that decade. It depicts an establishment that is thoroughly corrupt and captured by ideology, paying lip service to democracy whilst eagerly undermining it to achieve its ends. It's the kind of chaos that we associate with unstable regimes - the kind that we think of the CIA as causing - but as the film goes on we start to see parallels to our society that grow unsettling.
What makes Z so brilliant is how it takes you down the rabbit hole one layer at a time. As it starts, we see the police fearing a rally from left-wing demonstrators, but thoroughly confident it'll be shut down by counter-protesters. They are unquestionably opposed to this opposition party (who they fear are communists, seem primarily interested just in denuclearization and demilitarization), but beyond using the letter of the law to harass them don't seem interested in outright suppression. A death threat against the opposition leader (referred to as Z or The Doctor and played by Yves Montand) is basically ignored by them, but to be fair Z is resolved to ignore it too.
But then we go a layer down. Police intimidation and regulatory crackdowns have forced Z's speech to a location that is too small and will leave Z exposed to an angry crowd. It becomes clear the police are hoping violence will break out, allowing them to brutally crack down on Z's group whether they're responsible or not. And of course violence breaks out, and Z is assassinated.
And then the layers keep peeling. Thanks to the efforts of a dedicated magistrate (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a headline-chasing photojournalist (Jacques Perrin), we slowly learn that Z's killers are not only members of a far-right reactionary group, but that this group was used as a tool by the police as a paramilitary arm to crack down on left-wing groups. And not only that, but orders for the murder had come straight from the Chief of Police (Pierre Dux) himself.
The magistrate's efforts in particular are inspiring because of his dedication to finding the truth and getting justice in the face of thinly-veiled threats to his career from his superiors, which is the final layer of this. The entire government going all the way to the top is indifferent or even encouraging of what the Police Chief has done. They see the outcome as a good one and want the investigation to go no further than the two primary assailants.
The parallels to today are rather disconcerting. We've witnessed with Black Lives Matter protests how police have used the slightest bit of violence as an excuse to come in rubber bullets and gas canisters flying, and the current administration is entirely on their side. And particularly given the brutish and cruel tactics being employed by a newly-empowered ICE, it's not hard to imagine these forces linking up into a similar architecture of intimidation and violence. We've also seen plenty of evidence of the administration attempting to interfere in the investigative process - it gets hard not to start seeing the magistrate as a Mueller-like figure, trying to do his job in the face of intense opposition from the government and succeeding in bringing charges against everyone involved.
Which makes the ending sobering, as the photojournalist tells us how many witnesses to the case suddenly died before trial, how a military coup prevented Z's opposition party from winning an election, how the opposition party's leaders either died or were exiled, how the magistrate himself was fired, and how all the wrong-doers got at most slaps on the wrist. And then the photojournalist is replaced with a woman's voice telling us how he was imprisoned for three years for "disclosure of official documents."
The lesson is clear. Authoritarian governments can be brutish and thuggish and obvious. They can be careless and stupid in their planning when they get cocky. The system may be capable of exposing their wrongdoing. And it can still not matter. Once attained, the iron grip of fascism can be extremely difficult to dislodge. Which makes it all the more important to resist it now, before the fist can be closed.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/14: Raise the Red Lantern
SADIE HAWKINS WEEK!
For Sadie Hawkins week we've selected Raise the Red Lantern, a Zhang Yimou film about a woman (Gong Li) who becomes a concubine to a rich man in China roughly a century ago. It does not seem to be available on the normal streaming services, but it does look like it can be watched on YouTube.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 5/3: The Rider
This week's podcast about films blurring the lines between fiction and documentary concludes with the new The Rider. We'll have a thread up for discussion next Wednesday, and hopefully I'll be able to get an essay as well. The Rider is in limited release.
CONSPIRACY WEEK!
Watching Z in America today feels a little uncomfortable. Costa-Gavras' 1969 film was based on a book by Vassilis Vassilikos and is a fictionalization of an actual event in Greek politics earlier that decade. It depicts an establishment that is thoroughly corrupt and captured by ideology, paying lip service to democracy whilst eagerly undermining it to achieve its ends. It's the kind of chaos that we associate with unstable regimes - the kind that we think of the CIA as causing - but as the film goes on we start to see parallels to our society that grow unsettling.
What makes Z so brilliant is how it takes you down the rabbit hole one layer at a time. As it starts, we see the police fearing a rally from left-wing demonstrators, but thoroughly confident it'll be shut down by counter-protesters. They are unquestionably opposed to this opposition party (who they fear are communists, seem primarily interested just in denuclearization and demilitarization), but beyond using the letter of the law to harass them don't seem interested in outright suppression. A death threat against the opposition leader (referred to as Z or The Doctor and played by Yves Montand) is basically ignored by them, but to be fair Z is resolved to ignore it too.
But then we go a layer down. Police intimidation and regulatory crackdowns have forced Z's speech to a location that is too small and will leave Z exposed to an angry crowd. It becomes clear the police are hoping violence will break out, allowing them to brutally crack down on Z's group whether they're responsible or not. And of course violence breaks out, and Z is assassinated.
And then the layers keep peeling. Thanks to the efforts of a dedicated magistrate (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a headline-chasing photojournalist (Jacques Perrin), we slowly learn that Z's killers are not only members of a far-right reactionary group, but that this group was used as a tool by the police as a paramilitary arm to crack down on left-wing groups. And not only that, but orders for the murder had come straight from the Chief of Police (Pierre Dux) himself.
The magistrate's efforts in particular are inspiring because of his dedication to finding the truth and getting justice in the face of thinly-veiled threats to his career from his superiors, which is the final layer of this. The entire government going all the way to the top is indifferent or even encouraging of what the Police Chief has done. They see the outcome as a good one and want the investigation to go no further than the two primary assailants.
The parallels to today are rather disconcerting. We've witnessed with Black Lives Matter protests how police have used the slightest bit of violence as an excuse to come in rubber bullets and gas canisters flying, and the current administration is entirely on their side. And particularly given the brutish and cruel tactics being employed by a newly-empowered ICE, it's not hard to imagine these forces linking up into a similar architecture of intimidation and violence. We've also seen plenty of evidence of the administration attempting to interfere in the investigative process - it gets hard not to start seeing the magistrate as a Mueller-like figure, trying to do his job in the face of intense opposition from the government and succeeding in bringing charges against everyone involved.
Which makes the ending sobering, as the photojournalist tells us how many witnesses to the case suddenly died before trial, how a military coup prevented Z's opposition party from winning an election, how the opposition party's leaders either died or were exiled, how the magistrate himself was fired, and how all the wrong-doers got at most slaps on the wrist. And then the photojournalist is replaced with a woman's voice telling us how he was imprisoned for three years for "disclosure of official documents."
The lesson is clear. Authoritarian governments can be brutish and thuggish and obvious. They can be careless and stupid in their planning when they get cocky. The system may be capable of exposing their wrongdoing. And it can still not matter. Once attained, the iron grip of fascism can be extremely difficult to dislodge. Which makes it all the more important to resist it now, before the fist can be closed.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/14: Raise the Red Lantern
SADIE HAWKINS WEEK!
For Sadie Hawkins week we've selected Raise the Red Lantern, a Zhang Yimou film about a woman (Gong Li) who becomes a concubine to a rich man in China roughly a century ago. It does not seem to be available on the normal streaming services, but it does look like it can be watched on YouTube.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 5/3: The Rider
This week's podcast about films blurring the lines between fiction and documentary concludes with the new The Rider. We'll have a thread up for discussion next Wednesday, and hopefully I'll be able to get an essay as well. The Rider is in limited release.