Saturday, June 18, 2011
RESISTANCE
Today's film was the NYTimes Critics' Pick
L'armée du crime / Army of Crime (2010)
which is what the Nazi occupation called the resistance in an attempt to demonstrate that they were all communist, jewish, foreigners disrupting what would otherwise be normal French life.
The cast is quite large but the director manages to keep a tight rein on events and to show us the development of one section of 23 people and their activities as well as their eventual betrayal.
What is so stunning about this film is the light. The brightness with which all this evil is carried out. The normality of street life with the occasional break of violence. The daily activities behind which the members of the resistance hide.
Usually this period is depicted darkly and in the shadows. As a matter of fact, the template for this kind of film, Melville's Army of Shadows is almost all filmed at night. Not so in this picture.
The story is familiar but this is old wine in new bottles. I think that is a good thing.
The acting is great. The cinematography is spectacular.
These are/were all real people and, at the end we see them on the "red poster" the Nazis published with the title "Army of Crime".
I want to see this again in a year or so. Along with Army of Shadows, the Melville film.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
