I as in Icarus policital film / show

I as in Icarus
(1979, France)

Original title: I... comme Icare

Language: French

In a fictitious country, president Marc Jarry is assassinated while his open-top car stops in the middle of the street to greet the public. The killer, armed with a sniper rifle, is spotted on top of the nearby building and himself dies of the hand of an unknown person. Jarry was a favourite to win the upcoming elections, which puts the pressure on the government to solve this mystery. The official investigation, conducted by a committee, concludes that there was only a lone gunman with mental problems behind this murder. The attorney general, Henri Volney, refuses to sign the committee report during a public presentation of the findings. He is given the permission to continue the investigation and find the answers to all the questions he has put during the televised interview. As he carries on the search for answers, he stumbles upon evidence piling up in favour of a large conspiracy over the lone gunman theory.

I... comme Icare tells the story of the JFK assassination, but without mentioning the United States even once. Instead, the plot takes place in some unnamed, fictitious country, most likely in Europe. Also, instead of concentrating on the investigation itself, the movie asks some questions about our world and a human nature. Even asks the questions about the JFK case that for some reason were never asked: if the long gunman was a madman, is he mad and thus shot the president or is he considered mad because he shot the president? If he wasn’t alone, then what inspired him to kill the politician? If he was only a scapegoat, how could anyone be entangled in a conspiracy without realizing it? How could someone be unaware that he is being manipulated into doing something he wouldn’t normally due?

Amazing movie with Yves Montand in one of his finest roles as the attorney general trying to find sense in something that, on the surface, does not make any sense. Also interesting because it presents the background of what politics looked liked in the 1960s and 1970s.