DVD Review - Army of Shadows

This film was made in 1969 but it didn't get released until 2006. I am not sure what the reason for that is but there is no justification for this.

Director Jean-Pierre Melville has created a dark, suspenseful drama about the French Resistance fighters in World War II. The main character is an engineer named Phillippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura). Gerbier is a a loyal member of the Resistance who is betrayed by one of its members. He is brought to a camp but manages to escape. I don't really want to say much about the plot because I don't want to give anything away. I will say that this is a warts and all portrait of the Resistance. We see all of the day to day goings on and many of these tasks can be rather dull. The men in the Resistance are not handsome in the way Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power were. They are ordinary looking people.

Melville does a fantastic job of directing this film. He and his cinematographer Pierre Lhomme are meticulous about every detail. Melville and co-screenwriter Joseph Kessel wrote a true to life screenplay. And it is no wonder - they were both members of the Resistance. All of the acting is first rate. The only other actors that I was familiar with were Jean-Pierre Cassel (Jean Francois Jardie) and the wonderful Simone Signoret as Mathilde. In any case, all of the actors were terrific.

I liked the fact that Melville made these people real human beings. There are things that they do and say that make me cringe. But who wants to see a movie on this topic that is full of "super heroes?" I sure don't (we already have too many super hero films as it is). So if you want to see a really special film (however, I must say that I didn't quite like it as much as some of the critics) then I suggest you rent Army of Shadows.