Army of Shadows
Army of Shadows is a 1969 film by French director Jean-Pierre Melville, that was only released in the United States last year. It is now on DVD, and I had a chance to look at it over the weekend.
This is the first time I've seen a Melville film. He was a precursor of sort to the New Wave, heavily influenced by American films (he wore a cowboy hat while directing). Army in Shadows is a very personal film, adapted from a novel by Joseph Kessel, and dealing with the French resistance during World War II, which Melville was involved with.
It is perhaps the quietest espionage film you will ever see. Much of the violence is off-screen, and one of the killings that takes place on-screen is when an informer is strangled to death with complete silence, the camera never moving away from the victim's face. It is a very chilling scene.
The film concerns Gerbier, played stolidly by Lino Ventura, as a resistance operative. He gets captured a few times, escapes a few times, and never wavers from his purpose. He manages a small cadre of operatives, including Simone Signoret, who is lauded for her abilities but may have too soft a spot for children, and Jean-Pierre Cassel, who seems to be in it for the adventure, but then makes a huge sacrifice.
The film has an episodic structure that initially put me at arm's length, but eventually drew me in. There are a number of remarkable set pieces. In addition to the informer's execution, there is another chilling scene in which Gerbier is a prisoner of the Gestapo and is given a chance to out-run machine-gun bullets. If he does, he will merely be included in the next round of condemned men. Another terrific scene is when Signoret attempts to break one of her confederates out of prison by masquerading as a nurse.
The film, long out of circulation, was restored from a shoddy VHS copy. The cinematographer, Pierre L'Homme, did the restoration, and it masterful in bringing back his original vision. Though this film is in color, it is all in cool tones, blues, blacks and browns, with no reds, yellows or oranges. The sky seems to be perpetually overcast, which must have been the mood in France at that time. The film is also pointedly unsentimental--if you didn't know the outcome of the War, you'd have no idea the Germans were ultimately defeated by the ending of this film. Instead there is only a reminder of the occupation, summed up perhaps in the opening scene, with a military parade of German soldiers goose-stepping past the Arc de Triomphe.
This is the first time I've seen a Melville film. He was a precursor of sort to the New Wave, heavily influenced by American films (he wore a cowboy hat while directing). Army in Shadows is a very personal film, adapted from a novel by Joseph Kessel, and dealing with the French resistance during World War II, which Melville was involved with.
It is perhaps the quietest espionage film you will ever see. Much of the violence is off-screen, and one of the killings that takes place on-screen is when an informer is strangled to death with complete silence, the camera never moving away from the victim's face. It is a very chilling scene.
The film concerns Gerbier, played stolidly by Lino Ventura, as a resistance operative. He gets captured a few times, escapes a few times, and never wavers from his purpose. He manages a small cadre of operatives, including Simone Signoret, who is lauded for her abilities but may have too soft a spot for children, and Jean-Pierre Cassel, who seems to be in it for the adventure, but then makes a huge sacrifice.
The film has an episodic structure that initially put me at arm's length, but eventually drew me in. There are a number of remarkable set pieces. In addition to the informer's execution, there is another chilling scene in which Gerbier is a prisoner of the Gestapo and is given a chance to out-run machine-gun bullets. If he does, he will merely be included in the next round of condemned men. Another terrific scene is when Signoret attempts to break one of her confederates out of prison by masquerading as a nurse.
The film, long out of circulation, was restored from a shoddy VHS copy. The cinematographer, Pierre L'Homme, did the restoration, and it masterful in bringing back his original vision. Though this film is in color, it is all in cool tones, blues, blacks and browns, with no reds, yellows or oranges. The sky seems to be perpetually overcast, which must have been the mood in France at that time. The film is also pointedly unsentimental--if you didn't know the outcome of the War, you'd have no idea the Germans were ultimately defeated by the ending of this film. Instead there is only a reminder of the occupation, summed up perhaps in the opening scene, with a military parade of German soldiers goose-stepping past the Arc de Triomphe.
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