Z

“He is alive!”

A politician known only as Z (Yves Montand) is killed after leaving a demonstration, and the officials around the case begin telling the story they prefer. An examining magistrate (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is handed what should be a quick file, and he will not close it. Costa-Gavras, adapting a novel based on a real 1963 Greek assassination, puts the case together in clipped, procedural scenes, like a file being built.