I would like to give a little history of Greece from WWII to the time when "Z" happens. The Greek people had successfully expelled the Nazis when English forces invaded the country and put the Nazi collaborators in power. The US army took over the effort in 1947, rounding up thousands of people and putting them in reeducation camps. By 1949, the "civil war" was over, with Greece under military rule.

Then, the story portrayed in "Z". Dr. Gregorios Lambrakis was beginning to speak for the people, when the junta gunned him down. In "Z", we get to see the investigation into the murder, exposing how the generals orchestrated it. They never say that the movie happens in Greece (although it clearly does),and more than simply a look at the CIA-installed regime that was ruling Greece from 1967 to 1974, it's a reminder of all totalitarian governments in the world. "Z" will very likely chill you.

... even today, although the abuse of government and power by those on both extremes of the political spectrum is usually far more subtle than the flagrant corruption and abuse presented here, but not always - as the murder of journalists by western sponsored nations is usually forgiven if large reserves of oil can be used to acquire weapons from the sponsor.

The film is French, but it presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of the democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. It expresses director Costas Gavras's rage over the military junta that ruled the country at the time. Watching the film requires a fair amount of concentration, not only to follow the captions, but to try and keep straight the multitude of characters, many of which are introduced without names, so you have to keep tabs on them only by their appearance. For fair minded people of any nationality, the events in the story will leave one just as outraged as the film's director, as it tries to depict an unsuccessful cover up of a political murder on the part of both civil and military authorities, who were the target of a favored opponent attempting to rally his followers for an upcoming election. One recognizes the typical gambits employed by those holding power. They refuse the use of a meeting hall citing safety violations, and stand in the way of any meaningful attempt by a magistrate (Yves Montand) to uncover facts in the case. From the vantage point of present day, it's interesting and quite odd that the film makers viewed America and Russia almost as allies in the unnamed country's quest to maintain a right wing government against a popular opposition. In little more than a half century, it appears as if the tables have completely turned with the European slide to Socialism. Without researching the reason, and on the face of it, the magistrate's name corresponds to the title of the picture, though we learn during the closing sequence that 'Z' stands for 'He Lives' based on an ancient Greek interpretation. In the story, the name of the magistrate portrayed by Montand was never revealed.