State of Siege (Etat de Siege) is a 1972 French political thriller directed by Costa-Gavras (he also co-wrote the film with Franco Solinas, best known for writing The Battle of Algiers), Based on a True Story.
In an unnamed country, Philip Michael Santore (Yves Montand), an American "businessman", former police chief and government advisor, is kidnapped by the Tupamaros, a guerrilla group, who demand the release of political prisoners in exchange for him and two other hostages. While the police look to find both Santore and the other two government officials who were kidnapped, the government and the press debate the nature of what Santore was doing in the country in the first place. The Tupamaros also interrogate Santore about why he was in the country.
State of Siege was extremely controversial upon release, especially when it was scheduled to be shown at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. but was pulled from the schedule, allegedly because of pressure from the U.S. government.note
This movie contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: Santore gets killed, none of the prisoners the guerrillas wanted freed get freed, and the ending shows another U.S. official who presumably will be taking Santore's place in both his official and unofficial role.
- Arc Words: "Who is Philip Michael Santore?" The movie ends up trying to answer that question.
- Banana Republic: While the country in South America is never named, it's meant to be Uruguay, where Dan Mitrione
- whom Philip Michael Santore is an Expy of - A U.S. government official involved with USAID and the United Fruit Company, was kidnapped and later executed by the Tupamaros. - Cold-Blooded Torture: In one of the Flashbacks, we see the officials demonstrating torture techniques for the police, and then we see them
- Crime Spree Montage: Early on, there's a sequence of the guerrillas hijacking a number of vehicles they end up using to kidnap Santore and two other officials.
- Deadpan Snarker: Carlos Ducas muses at how the president started out as a mediocre boxer and was a mediocre student before becoming a mediocre government official - "What are the odds he'd become a mediocre president?"
- Fake-Out Make-Out: Two of the guerrillas who are watching Santore's house engage in this the day before his kidnapping.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the movie, a new U.S. government official flies to the country with his family, and guerrillas watch him, implying he may be kidnapped in the future as well.
- Insistent Terminology: The government refuses to acknowledge the name "Tupamaros" - instead, they're called guerrillas or terrorists or "unnameables".
- Intrepid Reporter: Most of the reporters who are chasing the story of Santore's kidnapping, particularly Carlos Ducas, the older reporter who asks most of the tough questions.
- The Mole: One of the government officials is also one of the people Este polls near the end of the movie to ask if they should execute Santore or not.
- No Name Given: Many of the characters in the movie are billed as "Woman Senator" (the senator who speaks out against the Cold-Blooded Torture the government engages in), "Minister of Internal Security", "Minister of Foreign Affairs', and so on.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: The cab driver whose car the guerrillas take - he mentions his car had been taken before during a bank robbery, he knows that he waits 30 minutes before calling the police, and he advises one of the guerrillas that the brakes on the car have trouble, as does the second gear.
- Sadistic Choice: Lampshaded by Santore, when he tells one of the guerrillas that if they kill him, it'll be seen as an act of cruelty, whereas if they spare him, it'll be seen as an act of cowardice. Este, the guerrilla he tells this to, ends up pointing this out to the guerrillas who remain when he polls them to find out if they think Santore should be executed or not.
- Start to Corpse: Though there are no opening credits, the car that has the dead Philip Michael Santore in it is seen in the opening shot of the film, and his body is discovered there six minutes into the film.
