STATE OF SIEGE Movie Review

Etat de Siege

Costa-Gavras—arguably the original Oliver Stone—directed this rip-snorting, fact-based conspiracy thriller about the events surrounding the death of U.S. Agency for International Development employee Daniel Mitrone (here called Philip Michael Santore and played by Yves Montand), suspected to be involved in the torture and murder of Uruguayan dissidents in the 1960s. This is one of the director's more complex and multi-leveled political powerhouses, but unless you know the players, you may find it difficult to keep score. (Names have been changed, characters have been invented and the country is unnamed.) Nevertheless, State of Siege is a skillfully constructed and persuasive combination of reporting and propaganda, even when its bombast overpowers its intended thoughtfulness. Much of the skilled production team and cast of ? were united here, including producer/performer Jacques Perrin, editor Françoise Bonnot, and composer Mikis Theodorakis.

NEXT STOP … Z, Missing, The Battle of Chile

1973 119m/C FR Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O.E. Hasse, Jacques Perrin; D: Constantin Costa-Gavras. VHS, LV COL