Interview with the director of "Z"

What are your emotions about the rerelease of "Z," 40 years after it was made?

Well, it's an amazing thing. To learn that 40 years later they are showing my movie again. I was very moved to learn that the Rialto people decided to release it again, and I'm very curious to see how the audience will react.

That's an interesting question. At least in some ways, "Z" is very specific to its time and place. You were reacting to a very specific situation in Greece.

Right, it was about the assassination of a deputy. I suppose it's the same thing as a senator here, a representative of the people. There was a long investigation to find out who did it, and we discovered little by little that it was the officials, it was the government itself. Because his political ideas did not support the government of the time, and so some elements of the king's family, with the help of the military, killed him. Then they manipulated the military and the police and the justice system to hide it. But thanks to a particular judge, the truth comes out. The end of the movie is also very particular, because in the meantime the military coup took place, and the judge went to prison along with many other people. [Laughter.] It's very funny, but finally it's not so funny. It's a comical-tragedy ending.

Many people have observed that the film had broader, more universal implications, that it isn't just about a particular situation in Greece. Were you consciously trying to do that?

No, not at the time. The only thing I did, I tried not to show that it was taking place in Greece. After a while everyone understood that it was taking place in Greece, but I did not use the Greek names. We just used the function of each person: We said "the lawyer," "the judge," "the doctor." We never said their names. That made the film, you could say, more international. What was important was the idea of power, the power used by the main forces in society, the police, the army and the justice system, to do what they have done. That was the idea -- that mechanism.

Of course, many countries around the world have faced that problem.

Yeah, absolutely. One of the themes I like very much in my movies is that you have one person, the judge, who resists all of that system. He says, "No, I will go on, even if it jeopardizes my life and my job, I will do it." He accuses the military and puts generals in prison, which caused a huge turmoil in prison. Then of course the coup happened, and the judge himself went to prison.

You used French actors and shot in Algeria, so there is something abstract, sort of general, about the setting. The viewer can't figure out exactly where this story is happening.

[Laughter.] We were obliged to do so. I wished to do it with French people in France, but it was impossible. Algiers was the only Mediterranean city we could find that looked a little bit like a Greek city. We had to change a few things here and there. Also, the Algerians accepted us, they wanted us to shoot the movie there. Without that help, it would have been impossible....