Army of Shadows (1969)

A film about the French Resistance in World War II directed by one member of the French Resistance (Jean-Pierre Melville) adapted from a novel by another member of the French Resistance (Joseph Kessel) and based on the true experiences of yet other members of the French Resistance. You can't do much better for authenticity on its subject matter then Army of Shadows, a film that depicts the actions of the Resistance as brave, but far from glamorous.

Episodic in nature the film follows a handful of members of one resistance cell over the course of around six to eight months during the heart of the Nazi occupation, late 1942 and early 1943. Unlike a lot of other films about the Resistance Army of Shadows lacks that one big mission, blowing up a munitions base, or assassinating a General, things like that. Instead the Resistance spends most of its time trying to avoid capture, rescue captured associates, and hunt down traitors in their ranks. While they provide the British with some intelligence and help rescue some of their downed airman, Resistance effectiveness was limited. Effectiveness however was not the central point, the central point was standing up, something which this film makes clear most French people (understandably) did not do.

Army of Shadows is not the comforting story of the Resistance most French people liked to tell themselves, as a result the film was not particularly well received in France at the time it was released. In fact, taking their lead from French critics American distributers did not release the film in this country, that is until after it was 'rediscovered', the movie was released theatrically in the United States only in 2006 and made lots of years best lists, including being named as the Best Film of the Year by Newsweek, The New York Times, The LA Weekly, Saloon.com and others. This is a pretty amazing movie and defiantly worth seeing, despite being rather bleak. ****