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The film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant. Yves Montand and Irene Papas, though top-billed due to their international star status, actually are "on-screen" for a very short time compared to the other principals. Jacques Perrin , who co-produced, plays a key role.

The location of the action is not expressly stated at any time, but there is sufficient context to demonstrate that the un-named country is a stand-in for Greece in the early 1960's. In fact, principal photography took place in Algiers.

In the opening credits, there is a "disclaimer" which reads (translated from French): "Any resemblance to real events, to persons living or dead, is not by chance. It is DELIBERATE."

The story begins with the leader the security police of a right-wing military-dominated government describing the govermnent's program to combat leftism, using the metaphors of "a mildew of the mind," an infiltration of " isms" or "spots on the sun."

The scene shifts to the preparations for The Deputy (Montand) to arrive to give a speech at a rally of the opposition faction. After giving his speech, The Deputy is run down by a delivery truck and suffers a fatal brain injury. The Examining Magistrate (Trintignant), with the assistance of The Photojournalist (Perrin) uncovers sufficient evidence to indict not only the two right-wing militants who committed the murder, but also four high-ranking military police officers. The action of the film concludes with one of the Deputy's associates rushing to see the Deputy's widow (Papas) to give her the surprising news.

Instead of the expected positive outcome, however, the prosecutor is mysteriously removed from the case, the assassins, though convicted of murder, receive (relatively) short sentences, the officers receive only administrative reprimands, the Deputy's close associates die or are deported, and The Photojournalist is sent to prison for disclosing official documents.

As the closing credits roll, instead of listing the cast and crew, the filmmakers list the things banned by the junta. They include: peace movementsSocial Justice Pacifism The global peace movement refers to a sense of common purpose among organizations that seek to end wars and minimize inter-human violence, usually through pacifism, non-violent resistance, diplomacy, boycott and moral purchasing., strikeStrike action (or simply strike is a deliberate refusal to work on the part of multiple employees. This is a tactic often employed by labor unions during collective bargaining with an employer. A strike may consist of workers refusing to attend work or pis, labor unionsA union labor union in American English; trade union sometimes trades union in British English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers in a parti, long hair on men, The BeatlesThe Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, " I Want To Hold Your Hand". The Beatles were one of the most influential music groups of the rock era. Initially they affected the post, other modern and popular musicMusic often an art/ entertainment, is a total social fact whose definitions vary according to era and culture," according to Jean Molino. 1 It is often contrasted with noise. According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez: "The border between music and no (" la musique populaire "), SophoclesSophocles ( 4961— 406 BC; Greek: Sigma;οφοκλη&sigmaf was an ancient Greek playwright, dramatist, priest, and politician of Athens. He is known as the second of the three great Greek tragedians; Sophocles was 30 years y, TolstoyPeople Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy ( 1645- 1729), statesman Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy ( 1761- 1844), military commander and diplomat Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy ( 1783- 1873), artist Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy ( 1817- 1885), writer Dmitry Andreyevich T, Aeschylus, Socrates, Eugene Ionesco, Sartre, Chekhov, Mark Twain, Samuel Beckett, the bar association, sociology, international encyclopedias, free press, new math. Also banned is the letter Z, which has been scrawled on the sidewalk as the film's final image, as a symbolic reminder that "the spirit of resistance lives."

Z was nominated for a large number of top awards, including an Oscar for Best Picture and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Languge Picture, and was named best picture by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and National Society of Film Critics Awards . The film also was also nominated for a Golden Palm award at the Cannes film festival. It won the Oscar awards in the editing and foreign film categories. The soundtrack, by Mikis Theodorakis, was also a hit.