Army of Shadows

Name: Army of Shadows
Genre: Drama, War
Released: April 28, 2006
Duration: 145 min
Rating: 99

2006

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Universal acclaim based on 24 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 110 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 110 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Rialto Pictures | Release Date: April 28, 2006

Summary: Making its U.S. debut, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 Army of Shadows is an intimate epic of the French Resistance in WWII.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Genre(s): Drama, War

Runtime: 145 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Shawn Levy

The protagonists have subsumed their identities to the collective, and they rise and fall in their hearts as the collective prospers or suffers. Their effort is absurd, but their intent is pure. Watching it evokes a combination of pity for their naive idealism and awe at Melville's uncanny brilliance. Read full review

100

Peter Travers

From the first sight of German soldiers goose-stepping past the Arc de Triomphe to a postscript that spells out the fate of characters whose moral confusion is all too real, Army of Shadows is a movie of its time -- and ours. Read full review

100

David Ansen

Infused with the bleak romanticism of Melville's gangster movies ("Le Samouraï," "Bob le Flambeur"), and deepened by his own experiences in the Resistance, this hard-bitten tribute to freedom fighters makes most current movies look flabby and undisciplined. Don't miss it. Read full review

100

Roger Ebert

This restored 35mm print, now in art theaters around the country, may be 37 years old, but it is the best foreign film of the year. Read full review

100

Scott Foundas

The result is a brilliant and relentless thriller, painted in Melville's trademark shades of charcoal and midnight blue, marked by daring escapes, unimaginable moments of self-sacrifice and unconscionable acts of betrayal. Read full review

100

Jami Bernard

It's a white-knuckler all the way, with most of that tension coming from the smallest facial expressions exchanged in uneasy silence between compatriots who knew what they were getting into, but were nevertheless unprepared for the moral and emotional fallout of their patriotic actions. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Everything Melville shows us, he shows us for a reason, and these reasons are never obscure but are rather pertinent to the action and to the moral movement of the world and the characters. Read full review

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User Reviews

TedP.

Jul 1, 2006

Difficult to imagine that one can strip a series of perilous encounters down to their existential terror any better than Melville.

1 of 2 users found this helpful

J.Weeks

Nov 29, 2007

I fell in love with Melville's work when I first saw Le Samourai a year or two ago. He was the master of showing you rather than telling you and this film is no exception. It is true that this film may seem a little slow but there is so much under the surface that no one should be I fell in love with Melville's work when I first saw Le Samourai a year or two ago. He was the master of showing you rather than telling you and this film is no exception. It is true that this film may seem a little slow but there is so much under the surface that no one should be bored. I particularly loved the unspoken way that regular French people recognized the members of the resistance and helped them without a word. I loved that these were regular people, a mathematician, a civil engineer...they were not elite special forces. This story takes the glamor out of the resistance and that, to me, makes it all the more heroic.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful

ClayC

Sep 15, 2009

A truly great film. Your users that have given ARMY OF SHADOWS poor reviews seem not just ignorant of cinema, but, especially, ignorant of history. (They actually seem to be just plain ignorant, and very full of themselves.)

3 of 3 users found this helpful

Spangle

Aug 25, 2017

On the surface, there is not a lot of satisfaction in watching Army of Shadows. Set in the 1942, the French resistance runs operations against the Nazis that either outright fail, fizzle out, are aborted, or are minor victories. There is no climax or crescendo to these depictions. There isOn the surface, there is not a lot of satisfaction in watching Army of Shadows. Set in the 1942, the French resistance runs operations against the Nazis that either outright fail, fizzle out, are aborted, or are minor victories. There is no climax or crescendo to these depictions. There is no honeymoon period with director Jean-Pierre Melville leaving no time for those in the resistance to lick their wounds or reveal in victory, instead dumping them in the next situation. There is no telling what will come around the bend for those in the resistance, instead they are doomed figures restricted to hiding in the shadows and await their own demise, all while fighting for the future of a Nazi-less France. Powerful, solemn, tragic, and cold, Melville's Army of Shadows continues to find supporters due to its stirring depiction of men and women uniting to fight for their country with no expectation of success, reward, or glory. Instead, they do it because they must, if their children are to ever know freedom.

Criticized for glorifying Charles de Gaulle by French critics in 1969, Army of Shadows wound up getting forgotten and only received an American release in 2006. The odd part, of course, is that De Gaulle is in one scene and, if anything, the film does anything but glorify the resistance. They are the heroes of this tale, yes, but Melville is entirely honest about the resistance. These are not wholly good men or women. Their cause may be a valid and heroic one, but their means and willingness to kill those who inform on them certainly calls into question just how truly "good" the members of the resistance are. Pitted against the Nazis, it is impossible to not root for the resistance, but Melville never shies away from those seedy elements that show the duality of evil on both sides of this conflict. Just because one side has a good cause does not mean all of the evil done in the name of the cause is entirely justified. While Melville himself had experience fighting with the resistance, even he recognize that the means used by the resistance were not always savory and worthy of praise, even if their cause was one in which he fully believed.

With cold, flat blues and grays adorning the film, it is impossible to not come away believing this to be a solemn and melancholy work. It thrills and keeps the viewer hooked, but beats you down with unrelenting bleakness. While these men and women lay their life on the line every day to free France from the Nazis, one thing is absolutely certain: they will all die. They are operating on a set clock that, at any moment, could end with them being caught and tortured. As a result, perhaps the only possible future for them that gives them any sense of relief or bliss is their ability to commit suicide via a cyanide capsule when they are caught. None of these characters live to see France liberated, nor do they expect to be able to see this event. Rather, they fight to advance that possibility and open the doors for others to finish what they have started. In many ways, their mission is just an elongated suicide mission. It is hopeless and it will kill them, but is more valuable to their country and fellow man than words could ever hope to describe.

Perhaps the most prevalent theme in the film is just how difficult it is to truly resist an oppressive government such as the Nazis. It is in this depiction that Army of Shadows reveals just how little it seeks to romanticize its heroes. Showing them murder people or escape capture just to put themselves in a position to have success on a mission, something inevitably goes wrong for this band of rebels. No matter what they do, no matter how perfectly thought out and executed, there is always some extenuating circumstance that necessitates their retreat or aborting of the mission. In large part, this is due to the overwhelming presence of the Gestapo. Like a band of stormy weather bearing down an unwilling city, it does not matter how prepared you because they will engulf you eventually. The resistance can hide in any number of shadows they want to, but the Nazis will always be right around the corner ready to arrest them, torture them, and let them wither away in a cell. It is the equivalent of standing in a room with the wall and ceiling closing in on you. There is no escape, but you sure as hell with try to fight against the wall before it crushes you.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TimD.

Oct 26, 2006

Stark, compelling, austere, engrossing, beautifully acted and directed. And, for me, about twenty minutes too long. If the running time had been more like two hours instead of 2:20, I would have given it a 10.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

HotelCentral

Sep 3, 2020

Apparently, a whole bunch of people seem to think that Army of Shadows is just superb, while I find myself, not for the first time, wondering just what it is that French filmmakers are trying to accomplish when they produce a film.

I mean, I know a few things about the Resistance. I'veApparently, a whole bunch of people seem to think that Army of Shadows is just superb, while I find myself, not for the first time, wondering just what it is that French filmmakers are trying to accomplish when they produce a film.

I mean, I know a few things about the Resistance. I've read a few things about the Resistance. I admire these people for their courage and sacrifice. But this film does little or nothing at all to illuminate their accomplishments.

Very early in the we meet a character who claims to be a traveling salesman. He says he was arrested because he happened to be walking through a square or plaza just as a riot or something erupted. And this could well serve as the epitaph for most of the characters in the film, who do little besides smoke cigarettes and talk about who was just arrested and who might be arrested next.

You'd think that given two hours and twenty-five minutes of footage someone might've found the time to film a raid or two or maybe some sabotage. You'd think they could get deeply into the characters so that the audience get to feeling a little invested in what's happening on the screen. You'd think, if this film is such a masterpiece, that a little suspense or excitement might be building by the time we pass the one hour mark. But you'd be wrong.

The film is as flat as a pancake. The characters are cardboard. The action is almost non-existent. And if the French didn't like it . . . well, what more need be said?… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AlyoshaM.

Feb 15, 2008

I almost fell asleep watching this film. It has caused me to distrust the Metacritic ratings.

1 of 7 users found this helpful

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