State of Siege [État de siège] **** (1972, Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O E Hasse) – Classic Movie Review 7666

‘A powder keg of dynamite!’ Co-writer/ director Costa-Gavras’s challenging, committed and typically partisan film State of Siege [État de siège] (1972) is an original scenario about the political kidnapping and killing of undercover American CIA agent Philip Michael Santore (Yves Montand) working with the police authorities in Uruguay. A guerrilla group of revolutionaries seize him at gunpoint outside his home and bundle him into a car bound for their secret headquarters, demanding the release of political prisoners in exchange for his life.

State of Siege makes no bones about its stance against America’s secret interference against left-wing guerrillas in Latin America. It is tense, provocative, carefully made and well worth investigating, but perhaps not quite as electric or brilliant as the director’s Z or Missing. Montand gives an excellent, dedicated performance and Renato Salvatori is powerful as the police captain Lopez.

It is entirely shot in Chile and made in French.

Also in the cast are Jacques Weber, Jean-Luc Bideau, Gloria Lass, Maurice Teynac, Yvette Etiévant, Evangeline Peterson, Harald Wolff, Nemesio Antûnez, Mario Montilles, André Falcon, Jerry Brouer, Roberto Navarette, Douglas Harris, Gilbert Brandini and Jacques Perrin.

Costa-Gavras (born on 12 February 1933 in Loutra-Iraias, Greece) says: ‘We have tried not to glamourise political struggle. In our film, the Tupamoros have certain political attributes – a strong influence on public opinion, a parallel power structure, advanced technical knowledge, a diversified social structure, excellent organisation and seriousness, and passion without any revolutionary swagger. If that is how they appear in the film, that is how they are in reality.

‘Santore (Montand) is as sincere as were the Inquisitors of the Catholic Church. He is convinced that it is necessary to defeat anything that is liberal or communist by whatever means at one’s disposal. He believes that simple liberalism threatens society with chaos.’

The Symbionese Liberation Army terrorists who kidnapped the newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California, on 4 February 1974 enjoyed repeated screenings of this movie while at Berkeley University in 1973 and the film is said to have provided the group with a template of action, not least in its detailed depiction of a political kidnapping.

A British DVD is available.

State of Siege [État de siège] is directed by Costa-Gavras, runs 120 minutes, is made by Reggane Films, Cinema 10, Unidis, Euro International Film, and Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion, is distributed by Cinema 5 (US) and Hemdale (UK), is written by Costa-Gavras and Franco Solinas (original scenario) is shot in Eastmancolor by Pierre-William Glenn, is produced by Léon Sanz, Jacques-Henri Barratier and Jacques Perrin, is scored by Mikis Theodorakis and is designed by Jacques D’Ovidio.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7666

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