Army of Shadows

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Year Released: 1969
Rating: 3.0

Pulp take on the French Resistance by former member Melville shows noble citizens of all sorts of backgrounds try to stand up against the ubiquitous German forces in occupied France. What's a curious about it is how bleak is the situation is: you have backstabbing (which happened ... a lot), good men being tortured to death and a grim ending, and yet the Allies won the war - perhaps the implication is even victories entail countless defeats and that the sacrifices of the few are necessary for the good of the whole (the country of France) - for example, Lino Ventura's character looks like he would shoot his mother in the head if he had to. Melville's films would make curious double-bills with selected works by Sam Fuller.