Oscar Winner Bigelow Credits Costa-Gavras as Political Thriller Pioneer
Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow identifies the filmmaker who created the blueprint for modern political thrillers, praising his groundbreaking 1969 work that changed cinema forever.
Few filmmakers earn guaranteed spots in cinema history, but Kathryn Bigelow secured hers as the first woman to claim a Best Director Oscar. Her career spans four decades of boundary-pushing filmmaking that delivers pulse-racing, nerve-wracking experiences demanding attention from viewers and award committees alike.
From Point Break's brutal surfing action to Strange Days' dystopian vision during the Rodney King era, then The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow crafts visceral, edge-of-seat movies drawing heavily from real events. Her films often display more traditionally masculine elements than many male directors produce, which says plenty in an industry where Clint Eastwood remains active.
Criterion Closet Reveals
During her 2025 visit to the famous Criterion Closet, the multiple Oscar winner shared insights into her viewing preferences. Everything made perfect sense. After selecting Edgar G. Ulmer's noir classic Detour, Gillo Pontecorvo's landmark The Battle of Algiers, and Sam Peckinpah's controversial Straw Dogs, she discussed a filmmaker who significantly impacted both cinema and her personal career: Costa-Gavras.
Bigelow revealed she recently encountered the Greek director at an event where they discussed his 1969 film Z. She told him he had essentially invented the political thriller genre. "I love Costa-Gavras," she stated, adding that his contribution to cinema history is "like none other."
The Birth of Political Cinema
Imagining cinema without political thrillers seems impossible now. Movies about real scandals and dictatorships existed before Costa-Gavras, but Z established the ripped-from-headlines, documentary approach that directors like Bigelow transformed into its own genre.
Z presents a French production offering a barely disguised portrayal of the American-backed military junta controlling Greece during the late 1960s and early 1970s. More specifically, it draws inspiration from the 1963 assassination of left-wing activist Gregoris Lambrakis. The documentary style places viewers directly within the unrest as protesters clash with police and thugs brutalize peacemakers.
Beyond heart-racing suspense and constant volatility, the film takes a meticulous approach to political machinery and the legal system's slow, steady work. Though most scenes center on a prominent left-wing politician's killing (played by Yves Montand) and the prosecutor investigating the assassination, the final 60 seconds truly drive home the horror.
Intentional Resemblance
Gavras, living as an expatriate in France then, refused to hide the real events he depicted. The film opens with a bold non-disclaimer: "Any resemblance to real events and dead or living people is not a coincidence. It is INTENTIONAL." This represented a film calling out a specific regime in real time, a courageous, angry stance that got it banned in Greece.
More than five decades later, Z remains as anxiety-inducing and realistic as ever. It should carry a trigger warning for Americans brave enough to watch it in 2026. In 1970, it became the first film receiving nominations for both Best Picture and Best International Feature Oscars, winning the latter category.