esrosedotblog

RESISTANCE

I have waited over a year to see Jean-Pierre Melville's

L' Armée des ombres / Army of Shadows (1969).

The life story of this film is interesting enough. Read it at the link.

It is an episodic memoir of the French Resistance; a small group of freedom fighters who maintained significant ant-nazi activities during WWII.

I have read a lot of other accounts mostly in Alan Furst's novels of that time and place.

There is no 'story' as such.

A lot of the episodes that we see focus on the waiting, the suspense, the bureaucracy of evil. Searches, identity papers, code, hideouts, networks. Sacrifice, loneliness, betrayal, failure against overwhelming odds.

One gets that the victories of this group of people are intensely personal.

Less so dramatic, explosive, exciting.

Quiet desperation. Small gains. Overwhelming loss.

The filming is bleak. Blue.

There is attention to loyalty and friendship. Conflict of loyalties; the cause versus the people.

It is hard to watch. There is no catharsis.

We do not see the Allies taking Paris. We do not see any anyone winning anything.

We do see the life and that is what Melville knew about first hand as a veteran of the resistance.

It was worth the wait to see this film.

An important sidelight. Simone Signoret appears as a major player in the network.

Any film with Signoret is worth my time.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films