“Any resemblance to real events and dead or living people is not a coincidence. It is INTENTIONAL.” So reads a title card at the beginning of Costa-Gavras’ Z.

Please read our first essay about Z.

Z (1969): Costa-Gavras’ Oscar-Winning Political Film, Starring Yves Montand and Jean-Louis Trintignant – Emanuel Levy

It was set in an unnamed Mediterranean country that could stand in for any police states torn between Russian and American influence at the height of the Cold War.

The 1969 Franco-Algerian production was truly international: the dialogue (by Spanish writer Jorge Semprún) is in French, the plot itself, based on a book by Greek author Vassilis Vassilikos, adheres to events in Greece following the 1963 assassination of popular pacifist candidate (played by Yves Montand) who’d dared to oppose the ruling junta.

The titular letter, painted across the street in a climactic scene, was a protest slogan that meant “He lives.”

Z also earned noms for best director and adapted screenplay and won Oscars for editing (Françoise Bonnet) and foreign language film (as the category was then called).

Costa-Gavras left the telecast empty-handed in 1970, but would end up winning best adapted screenplay for 1982’s Missing, starring Jack Lemmon and Sossy Spacek.

With its sardonic eye, Z remains relevant due to its unspecific setting and to a global resurgence of anti-democratic sentiment.

Ironically, followers of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin have adopted the letter Z as their symbol.