Army of Shadows (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Army of Shadows (1969) – J.-P. Melville

It is interesting to ponder whether Melville’s memory of the French Resistance (he sometimes said “nostalgia”) helped him to design the expert gangster noirs he is famous for -- or whether his love of American film noir enabled him to make this classic Resistance film with protagonists who act like gangsters.  Surely, the undercover operatives of the Resistance share similarities to the denizens of the criminal underworld, having to avoid those in power who would otherwise imprison them or worse.  Interestingly, not much is shown of the actual work of the heroes in this film, which focuses instead on the ever-present possibility of betrayal (and what is done with the betrayers), the endless series of captures and occasional daring escapes.  Melville was criticized for briefly including a shot in the film of De Gaulle, leader of the Free French during the Occupation but reviled by the Left in 1968 and when the film was released (Melville’s own politics were decidedly right-wing which might have contributed to his authoritarian control on the set and conflict with actors as a result).  Yet there is not denying Melville’s style which involves an unblinking and compelling depiction of action(s) – simple actions such as passing a packet of cigarettes around a group of prisoners awaiting execution and more complicated actions involved in an escape from German headquarters.  In this way, Melville is very much like the Bresson (of A Man Escaped, particularly), as a feeling of transcendence can arise from the silence and extreme absorption in these moments.  The austere style of the images, often in half-light with studio sets painted in shades of grey, increases the effect.  The actors, Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Crauchet, Paul Meurisse, among others, are all stoic, hard-boiled, devoted to the cause above everything else, and ready to die either through torture when captured or at the hands of their comrades if they succumb to the torture and name names.  A tough unforgiving world, but one where honour prevails, and potentially a source of nostalgia in a modern world where things are not nearly as black and white.