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"Army of Shadows"
1969
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Set
in German-occupied Lyons during WWII, this tragic, highly-atmospheric
picture concerns a French Resistance fighter (Lino Ventura) who is
betrayed by an informer and sent to a prison camp, where he awaits the
Gestapo. Based on Joseph Kessel's novel, Army of Shadows, or The
Army in the Shadows, was a personal endeavor for Jean-Pierre Melville,
who was a Resistance fighter himself. With Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre
Cassel, and Simone Signoret. "It's here that Melville fully achieved his
notion of the sublime, applying Le Samourai's 'empty' compositions
and near theatrical blocking, as well as its methodical suspense, cosmic
fatalism, and sense of grim solitude, to a subject far closer to his
heart" (J. Hoberman, Village Voice). French with English subtitles. 145 minutes. |
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