"Why do our ideas provoke such violence? Why don't they attack other
organisations?",asks Grigoris Lambrakis, the Greek politician, to a
bustling crowd of his supporters, "our ideas" signifying leftism and
pacifism. "The answer is simple. The others are nationalists, used by the
government, and don't upset our Judas allies who betray us..."
"Z", the critically acclaimed political thriller by the French
director Costa-Gavras, is based on a
real event, that of the assassination of the above mentioned Lambrakis and how
the government tried its level best to disguise it as an accident and hush it
up. At a time when military-dominated government was at its peak in Greece,the
opposition party's Lambrakis and his associates plan to hold a rally to speak
against nuclear disarmament. All of a sudden, they find that all the halls in
the city have closed their doors to them, obviously having been threatened by
some higher power. Finally, at the behest of the Head of Security, they are
allowed to use a small hall right across the street from Lambrakis' hotel.
After the rally, as he's making his way back to the hotel, a pick-up truck appears out of nowhere and hits him.
As he's rushed to the hospital, the
police find the driver of the pick up truck and question him. Even though Lambrakis' associates can smell
something fishy, the Chief of Police insists that the case be closed as an accident due to
drunken driving. His reason? To prevent any harm and disruption to the existing
law and order! Lambrakis dies soon after and the autopsy reveals a shocking
fact. The injury of the skull is such that it could only have been caused if he
was deliberately hit with a club-like object! Ensuing investigation by the
magistrate Sartzetakis reveals enough evidence to show that the assassination
of the leader of the opposition was masterminded by none other than the top
miltary officials of the right-wing government, including the Chief of Police
who was so keen on hushing it up! The officers are indicted for the time being,
but very soon the real outcome turns out to be quite different...
The seven witnesses die mysterious deaths just before the trial. The
assassinators are given ridiculously short sentences, and the military officers
receive only administrative reprimands. All of Lambrakis' associates either die
or are deported. The military regime soon banned anything it saw as radical and
as a threat to their authority, including the letter 'Z', which signifies, 'He
(Lambrakis) is alive'...
This movie was based on events which happened in the 1960s. But even now,
can we really say that the situation has vastly changed for the better?
Extremism still thrives in many parts of the world. As for this tendency of the
higher authority to hush everything up which might disrupt order, well, don't
we face such incidents almost regularly in our daily life? It's as if the new
definition of democracy seems to imply that it is alright to deny justice, if
order is maintained, and the reputation of the institution remains intact...
No comments:
Post a Comment