Set during the early 1940s, this is the story of a small band of Resistance fighters and their day-to-day struggle in German-occupied France. A personal project of Jean-Pierre Melville (LE SAMOURAI, LE CERCLE ROUGE), L'ARMEE DES OMBRES draws on the directors actual experiences from World War II and took 25 years to come to the .. Read more
| Starring | Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura, Jean-Pierre Cassell |
|---|---|
| Director | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Genres | Drama, Drama, World Cinema |
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Set during the early 1940s, this is the story of a small band of Resistance fighters and their day-to-day struggle in German-occupied France. A personal project of Jean-Pierre Melville (LE SAMOURAI, LE CERCLE ROUGE), L'ARMEE DES OMBRES draws on the directors actual experiences from World War II and took 25 years to come to the screen.
| Starring | Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura, Jean-Pierre Cassell |
|---|---|
| Director | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Studio | Elevation |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 25 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, Drama, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: French |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 27 Nov 2006 Production year: 1969 |
| Format | DVD |
Melville's tribute to the French Resistance in World War II was a project he nurtured for 25 years, and is the summit... read more on Time Out
Melville constructs scenes of suspense and action as exciting and dark as anything in Hitchcock (although less tongue-in-cheek). His characters are resistance fighters via a kind of French pulp fiction that never existed - dogged, hunted and mean, knowing their fight is futile. The sky is always grey and the shadows are everywhere. Aside from the brilliantly contrived atmosphere there are two scenes of breathless suspense, the more terrifying because you know that the director is as dark as his heroes and will kill them off in a second if he sees fit.
JP Melville's film is so captivating: you've got to keep watching. The characters are never one-dimensional. Sets look so accurate. There is a bizarre foreboding throughout of sell-out or careless dislosure in a fascist regime.
I admire both Melville and Louis Malle as 2 of the few French directors who ensure that we are aware that not all Frenc people opposed the German regime, that as much as half the population either supported or put up with Nazi atrocity.
A film you must watch.