Costa-Gavras, the master of political thrillers

Two characteristics are typical for Costa-Gavras' oeuvre. For one, he always focuses on controversial political topics. Secondly, he never ignores the expectations of his audience. Costa-Gavras is the master of political thrillers and his movies are depressive and entertaining at the same time.

In 1969, Costa-Gavras achieved his breakthrough with his third film. The thriller "Z" tells the story of a political struggle against the opposition, the justice system and the media with oppressive means. Although the plot is set in a nameless country, it's quite clear that it's about the military regime in Greece.

Born as Konstantínos Gavrás in 1933 in Greece, the future director immigrated to France at the age of 21. In 1965, he made his debut with the film "The Sleeping Car Murderers" starring Simone Signoret and Yves Montand (picture). The film starts out as a thriller, but at the end, a high-ranking police officer turns out to be the villain.

Following his worldwide hit "Z," the director helped establish the genre of the popular political thriller. His suspenseful thrillers featuring contemporary and historical themes became his trademark. Costa-Gavras' fifth film "State of Siege" (1972) depicts a country that oppresses its own citizens — but this time, it's Uruguay.

Once in a while, the director turns to lighter material. In a profound and elegant way, his movie "Womanlight" starring Romy Schneider and Yves Montand tells the story of an incidental encounter between a woman and a man. Both of them have lost their partners and are searching for consolation.

"Missing" from 1981 tells the story of an American who has disappeared in the chaos of the Chilean military regime. His father (Jack Lemmon) is looking for him. "Missing" was awarded an Oscar but came under fire, nonetheless, when critics claimed that Costa-Gavras had exploited political topics in a mainstream film.

After his adventure in Hollywood, Costa-Gavras returned to France for his next project. "Hanna K." (1983) takes a look at yet another crisis region, the Middle East, and the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine. An American-Jewish lawyer portrayed by Jill Clayburg gets drawn into the conflict.

Five years later, Costa-Gavras dealt with another controversial topic. In "Betrayed," he depicts far-right sentiments such as racism, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust denial and Christian fundamentalism in American society.

Costa-Gavras' following film was about the Holocaust and the Nazi era. "Music Box" (1989) tells the deeply moving story of a lawyer (Jessica Lange) who denies the accusation that her father (Armin Mueller-Stahl) was part of a fascist Hungarian special unit during World War II. Here, the director interweaves the present and the past, the political and the private.

After directing two more films, the director once again turned to a German topic: He created a film adaptation of Rolf Hochhuth's controversial drama "The Deputy." The German co-production titled "Amen" was shot in Romania with Ulrich Tukur and Ulrich Mühe, two renowned German actors.

During the last few years, Costa-Gavras seems to have slowed down when it comes to movie production. But the director remains an alert observer of political and social trends. His drama "The Ax" (2005) deals with contemporary work environments and the excesses of globalization.

Costa-Gavras focused on refugees back in 2009. The film "Eden Is West" tells the story of a young man called Elias (Riccardo Scamarcio) who gets stranded on the Greek coast and is subsequently forced to flee across Europe.

Costa-Gavras' latest film "Capital" from 2012 deals with the turbulence of financial markets. Marc Tourneuil, portrayed by Gad Elmaleh, becomes the chairman of a private French bank after his predecessor dies while playing golf. Even in this film, Costa-Gavras remained faithful to his principles by critically exploring contemporary issues in an entertaining way.