Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos went into exile when the military junta, which banned his novel Z, took over in 1967. The book, published the year before, is a fictionalized account of the 1963 assassination of leftist Greek parliamentarian Gregoris Lambrakis (Z), the ensuing investigation and the right-wing conspiracy behind it all. The movie Z, based on the novel, was directed by Costa-Gavras, featured Yves Montand and won an Oscar for best foreign-language film in 1969. In its review of the film that year (while the junta was still in power) TIME noted, “The Greek letter Z is a symbol for ‘he still lives.’ In this case, Z refers to the murdered Deputy. But it is also the spirit of revolt against a stifling government that has banned, in addition to miniskirts, Twain, Chekhov, Beckett, and of course Z. As a work of art, Z can live without Greece. The question is, can the Greeks truly live without Z?”