{"id":2659,"date":"2013-04-01T18:29:06","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T17:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=2659"},"modified":"2013-06-04T06:38:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T05:38:02","slug":"army-of-shadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/04\/01\/army-of-shadows\/","title":{"rendered":"Army of Shadows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ArmyofShadows\"<\/a>
Army of Shadows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Blu-ray

\nRelease date:<\/B> 8 April 2013

\nDistributor:<\/B> Studiocanal

\nDirector:<\/B> Jean-Pierre Melville

\nWriter:<\/B> Jean-Pierre Melville

\nBased on the novel by:<\/B> Joseph Kessel

\nCast:<\/B> Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel

\nOriginal Title:<\/B> L’arm\u00e9e des ombres<\/i>

\nFrance 1969

\n145 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The sound of marching feet. The now familiar sight of German soldiers trooping through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, marking their own triumphant seizure of the city, and symbolically, of France as a whole. From the opening shots through to its tragic end, Jean-Pierre Melville\u2019s classic Army of Shadows<\/i> about the French Resistance is so full of influential, iconic imagery that, watching the film more than 40 years after its original release in 1969, it\u2019s difficult to shake the feeling of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. <\/p>\n

A key figure in the Resistance, Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura) is interned, without charge, in a prison camp. His jailers aren\u2019t German, but French (the first of many critiques of collaborationists, and subtly, of the French as a whole). He soon escapes and finds his way to Marseilles, where, with two trusted colleagues, Le Masque (Claude Mann) and Le Bison (Christian Barbier), justice is meted out in brutal fashion to the person who betrayed him. Now a known and wanted man, Gerbier\u2019s survival takes on new prominence, with the film twisting its way through a series of arrests of both Gerbier and his helpers and the subsequent, dangerous attempts at their rescue. <\/p>\n

For the three comrades are part of the handful of men and one formidable woman (with her one, fatal flaw) who form the cell at the heart of the film, which was based on Joseph Kessel\u2019s 1943 novel of the same name and influenced by Melville\u2019s own war-time experiences. Devoted members of the Resistance, they are isolated figures, alone in the sacrifices they make to protect each other and in their efforts to subvert the Germans. Their strength lies in their convictions and unswerving devotion to the cell; Gerbier almost worships Luc Jardie (Paul Meurisse), a philosopher, writer and their leader. <\/p>\n

There is little romanticism in the portrayal of their actions, no bending of history to make the Resistance seem somehow glamorous. Melville\u2019s Army of Shadows<\/i> is an austere film, shot in steely grey and blue tones, in an almost minimalist style. The languorous, late-60s pacing succeeds in creating an almost real-time sense of suspense. When Mathilde (terrifically played by Simone Signoret), disguised as a nurse, tries to enter the jail where another comrade has been kept prisoner and nearly tortured to death, the seconds crawl by as she waits for her papers to be approved by the guards. Melville creates the feeling of nervous energy and fear that anyone would feel in those tense moments, unsure if they\u2019re about to be exposed as agents, and knowing the horrific reality of what would happen if they were. And by the film\u2019s unhappy conclusion, the members of the cell have all been humiliated, tormented and sadistically toyed with by the Germans in what, in those years, was an almost futile battle. <\/p>\n

With its strong political undertones, Army of Shadows<\/i> was doomed to failure on its original release and denounced, in part, for being Gaullist – it was released shortly after the May 68 protests and the backlash against de Gaulle. Thanks to the controversy that surrounded the film, it was never released for distribution in the United States until it appeared on DVD in 2006. Now widely regarded as a masterpiece, its reissue on Blu-ray is a welcome opportunity to rediscover this compelling and important film. <\/p>\n

Sarah Cronin<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the opening shots through to its tragic end, Jean-Pierre Melville\u2019s classic Army of Shadows<\/i> about the French Resistance is full of influential, iconic imagery.
\nReview by Sarah Cronin<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,3],"tags":[145,611,610,154],"class_list":["post-2659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","tag-french-cinema","tag-melville","tag-resistance","tag-war-film"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-GT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":557,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/03\/01\/the-jean-pierre-melville-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":2659,"position":0},"title":"The Jean-Pierre Melville Collection","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the 13 movies he made until his death aged 55 in 1973, Jean-Pierre Melville created a world that has been rarely matched in the history of cinema - for its pessimism. 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