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.
Review of State of Siege
