Quest Status: 754 / 1000
TSPDT Rank #350
When I think of Jean-Pierre Melville, I think of Alain Devon in Le Samourai, a lone wolf in a world of cool, emotionless gangsters. Army of Shadows is a film about the world French Resistance rather than gangsters, but the two worlds turn out to be surprisingly similar. Both are painted in the same chilly greys and blues. The action here seems to play out in perpetual winter, and much of it at night, as well. The heroes wear the same trenchcoats and are guided not by love, but by a stoic devotion to a mysterious boss whose rule over his men is absolute.
In other words, Army of Shadows is about much of the same things that defined his work in the crime thriller genre. He focuses on the minutiae of the Resistance's attempts to evade the Nazi occupation forces, with very little time spent on political or personal matters. When the middle-aged leader of a Resistance group in Marseilles meets a young communist in a camp for political prisoners, the two bond, not over ideology, but over the realization that they both have "comrades."
As in Le Samourai, the important thing isn't the code that one adheres to, but that one adheres to that code with unwavering fidelity. Maybe what drew Melville to the world of the Resistance in the first place is that it must have felt like a losing cause, not unlike the world of crime. Anyone who joins must accept that it's only a matter of time before they are caught, tortured, and killed - and not everyone is able to deal with the pressure. For those who are, there's no better reward than the knowledge that they remained true to their comrades. And that when fate comes knocking, the belief that they will have the courage not to run.
--- 246 films remaining ---
NOTE
This review is part of my new Tumblr blog Cinema Cycles, which can be found here.
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