Army of Shadows

Army of Shadows is a 1969 Franco-Italian World War II suspense-drama film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, and starring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Simone Signoret. It is an adaptation of Joseph Kessel's 1943 book of the same name, which mixes Kessel's experiences as a member of the French Resistance with fictional versions of other Resistance members. The film follows a small group of Resistance fighters as they move between safe houses, work with the Allied militaries, kill informers, and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate. While portraying its characters as heroic, the film presents a bleak, unromantic view of the Resistance. At the time of its initial release in France, Army of Shadows was not well-received, as, in the wake of the events of May 1968, French critics denounced it for its perceived glorification of Charles de Gaulle. American art-film programmers of the time took their cues from Cahiers du cinéma, which attacked the film on this basis, so it was not released in the United States until 2006, after a reappraisal of the film and Melville's oeuvre published in Cahiers du cinéma in the mid-1990s led to its restoration and re-release. The film was critically acclaimed in the U.S. and appeared on many critics' lists of the best films of 2006. Plot Philippe Gerbier, the head of a French Resistance cell, is arrested by Vichy French police on suspicion of Resistance activity. Although he is acquitted due to a lack of evidence, he is still sent to an internment camp. He and a young Communist work on an escape plan, but before they can execute it, Gerbier is transported to Paris. While waiting to be questioned by the Gestapo, he manages to kill a guard and flee.