The European film-maker Costa-Gavras spent his 20’s in France (after moving from his native Greece in 1951), where a spellbinding cinephile culture and an active leftist politics flourished. Gavras participated in both these movements, and later in the 1960’s amalgamated his passion for arts & cinema with his commitment to expose human-right abuses & abuse of power. In 1969, Gavras gave us “Z”, an emotionally infuriating, thinly fictionalized expose of the political crimes, committed under Greece’s dictatorship. “Z” concocted a perfect framework for modern political thrillers. The wide degree of accolades, the movie received influenced a whole lot of directors around the world to showcase political & ideological injustice within a thriller format.
Although Gavras embraced left-wing politics, there are no
simple white and black depictions in his works; he always likes to travel
within the complex gray range. “Z” was about brave truth-seekers, fighting
against a might right-wing dictatorship, but he surprised all his left-leaning
friends by making “The Confession” (aka “L’aveu”) in 1970, which is a
condemnation of Stalinist extremists in Czechoslovakia). Gavras was inspired to construct the narrative based on the life of a Czech bureaucrat &
Vice-Minister, Artur London, who was arrested by his own party in 1951, and
subsequently tortured to confess on a coup he never planned. With “The
Confession” and “Z”, Gavras explored the abuse of power and action on both
sides of the political spectrum, and then dwelled into the volatile Latin American politics of the late 1960's with “State of Siege” (aka “Etat
de Siege”, 1972).
"Etat de Siege" was a fictionalized account of the kidnapping and
killing of American official Dan Mitrone in Uruguay (the script was written by Franco Solinas --"Battle of Algiers", "Burn!"). The American account might
tell that Mitrone was a decent family man (with seven children) trying to help
the officials of a conflicted nation, and brutally killed by the leftists. The other side
of account showcases that Mitrone was working for Agency for International
Development (USAID), which is simply a cover to teach the Uruguayan law
officers on how to use torture against their countries’ dissidents. “State of
Siege” had the most balanced approach, when compared to Gavras’ previous works,
as the narrative depicted its characters’ trip into the moral middle-ground.
Unlike “Z” and like “The Confession”, this film doesn’t lend itself to suspense
and action. While Gavras’ previous two films provided some kind of appealing resolution,
“State of Siege” portrayed the futility of the conflict, where there are no mutually
exclusive possibility.
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| Interrogation & torture of Anton Ludwik in "The Confession" |
Prominent French actor Yves Montand played the primary
character in all these three films. His Anton Ludwik in “The Confession” and
Philip Michael Santore in “State of Siege” are staunch believers of polarizing
political ideals. The two men’s political ideals, however never wavers, even in
the prospect of facing brutal torture and death. Montand gives a complex
performance in both these films, as a man who believes that his ordeal would
soon be over and that he could talk his way through the problem. “The Confession”
and “State of Siege” doesn’t much to offer in the form of narrative tension,
since earlier or in the middle, we get to know what’s happened to the primary
character. There are no last minute expositions or hidden ulterior motives.
Costa Gavras is aware of the fact that the political strife in both the films is
ideologically muddled, and so he only concentrates on a group of men, who carry
out their respective ideology with genuine belief.
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| Interrogation of Michael Santore in "State of Siege" |
The interrogation scenes in both the films is more about
forcing the protagonists to confess to their activities rather than trying to
obtain valuable information. However, the outcome and way the viewers feel
towards these interrogations are totally different. Anton is a victim of gross
injustice. The way he is tortured and the final court proceedings forces us to
use the term ‘Kafkaesque’. If Anton is caught within a web of lies, Santore is
confined within a chamber of truth. Santore’s despicable activities are
gradually revealed and there is no question and what he has done. But, still
Montand’s fully realized portrayal of the unofficial American diplomat doesn’t
turn him into a monster. On a thematic perspective, both the films aren’t trying
to bestow us with a dissertation on the conflict; it simply tries to deconstruct
the ideological conflict that is only often viewed from a journalistic
viewpoint.
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| Costa-Gavras (left) and Yves Montand |
On the outset, “The Confession” and “State of Siege” is
outside forces’ intervention on a country’s internal affairs. The intervention
sort of brings out the dark side of communism and capitalism. Despite Gavras’ political leanings, these films are just a cry against the inhumanity that
resides within both these systems. “The Confession” was deemed as ‘an
anti-communist screed’ in many leftist circles, while “State of Siege” agitated
both sides of the political divide: one side thought that Gavras’ was little
forgiving towards the American foreign policy, whereas the other side felt that
Gavras’ has humanized a Latin American terrorist organization (“Tupamaros”).
However, the film-maker is gutsy enough to simply look at both sides, without
judging. The depiction of Tupamaros in “State of Siege” is the most conflicted
as they do not like violence, but only uses it to achieve their goals
(rationalizing killing in the name of liberation).
Anton and Michael Santore also seem to be aware of the conflicted
situation of their captors’ position. Anton says, “If I have committed these
crimes, why appeal to my loyalty? And if I am a good communist, then why I am
here?” Santore states to his captor: “If you kill me, it will be an act of
cruelty and powerlessness and if you don’t kill me, it will be a sign of
weakness.” From an aesthetic point of view, both the films collage various moments
to inquire upon the psychology of the characters. The interior sequences sort
of resembled and psychological confinement (especially in “L’aveu”) reminisced
of sequences in Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Army of Shadows” (1969). The meticulously
chosen subjective-camera techniques lend a documentary-like realism and allow the
viewers to understand the characters’ ordeals. The lack of heightened dramatics,
and the presence of subjective shots (there are also no grand orchestral
scores) help us to understand that the periodical outbursts of the characters
aren’t the film’s sole perspective. In “State of Siege”, Santore says to Hugo,
the rebel/terrorist: “You want to destroy the foundation of our society, the
fundamental values of our Christian civilization, and the very existence of the
free world." At a earlier point, Hugo states to Santore: “Be it drinking beer,
swallowing aspirin, brushing teeth, cooking food in an aluminum pan, turning on
a radio, shaving, using refrigerator, or heating a room, every citizen in my
country contributes daily to the development of your economy.”
“The Confession” (139 minutes) and “State of Siege” (130
minutes) thoroughly explores the corrupt institutions within two polarizing
political ideals, without ever being didactic. It potently depicts the
never-ending circularity of political power conflicts.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing.. :)
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