Although it’s been 35 years since its original release in France, L’Arm?e des Ombres (Army of Shadows), has been sent across the sea to American audiences. It was completely worth the wait.
Jean-Pierre Melville, French director of the ’50s and ’60s, was the master of the “gangster” genre, a style of film that mimicked American pulp and detective stories. Melville managed to create a paradigm of the genre, directing some of the most well known gangster films. Hidden between two of his most known pieces, “Le Samourai” (The Godson) (1967) and “Le Cercle Rouge” (The Red Circle) (1970), came a variant from his normal modus operandi with “Army of Shadows” (1969).
The film follows a small resistance band in France during World War II. Philippe Gerbier, perfectly acted by the stoic Lina Ventura, leads them as they are forced into the most dangerous and desperate acts to fight against their invaders. This film is a bit unusual in that it does not try to captivate us by blasting us into one single event in World War II history. Army of Shadows lingers on the war, almost as a year in the life of the French resistance. We see their every mission whether it be to kill an informer, deliver crucial equipment, or attempt rescue missions.
The film seems more like a connected series of vignettes with clear breaking points. More importantly, it beautifully shows the metamorphosis of each character, allowing them to slowly change with each assignment.
General Sherman once said, “war is hell,” though not because of all the killing, but how it ruins those who remain alive. Army of Shadows brutally shows how with each secret act, a piece of their humanity is etched away.
This is not a typical war movie. Unlike most, especially those spat out of Hollywood, there are no famous historic battles with huge gun fights or explosions that take up the entire screen. In fact, the gunshots and Nazis are hardly seen, making only a cameo appearance. This actually heightens the film’s realistic quality and intensity. We’re shown the war from a different angle. This war is fought in the shadows by an army that scurries through the streets. With perfect use of silence and a drab, brooding color palette, Melville has created a film that manages to be brutally intense without any of the typical war-genre motifs; he has created a wholly believable washed-out world of silent misery and hidden sorrows.
As in his early gangster pieces, Melville has once again created a band of thieves going against the police. He seems to like these people not just for the charm of the stories they contain, but because of the interesting ideas that surface with them. Melville seemed enamored by the idea of honor amongst thieves, the code that kept criminals together. He loved betrayal, revenge, and atonement.
His films center not on plot, but on the characters themselves and how the moments of their lives make them who they become. The characters become human, as they desperately cling to honor and futilely grasp at love in their hopeless lives. Melville certainly captures the attention and heart of the audience with a powerful authenticity that makes “Army of Shadows” seem much more like a documentary than fiction.