Why the historical alterations?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Army of Shadows
RunDeckardRun — 17 years ago(February 01, 2009 02:28 PM)
Does anyone know what the reasons behind the small but significant historical changes were all about? For example, some effort was spent on showing the viewer Luc Jardie's mathematical books during the film, but Jardie's character was meant to be real-life resistance fighter Jean Cavailles. I realise that historical films are usually 'based upon actual events' - as opposed to minutely detailed re-enactments of the past - but this type of alteration is puzzling
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c_u_lr1026 — 17 years ago(February 16, 2009 09:33 PM)
spoiler alert
Luc Jardie was also based on Jean Moulin, a high-profile member of the Resistance. His death - that he died under torture revealing only one name: his own - is based on the fate of Jean Moulin. So evidently they mixed together different aspects of different characters to make a better movie. -
on3gin — 17 years ago(February 22, 2009 09:37 AM)
Another historical alteration was having the Germans march around the Arc de Triomphe at the beginning, instead of through it, as they did in the Forties. I imagine that the French would not allow such a reenactment.
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Local Hero — 16 years ago(September 06, 2009 01:55 PM)
Well, I have a
thematic
answer for you. Melville would want to have the head of the Resistance a philosopher, and would want to take the time to show us the titles of his books, because this highlights the philosophical underpinning of the film, which was largely a kind of austere existentialism, a rational fatalism mixed with calculated decision-making that brings life-or-death repercussions. In this sense, the film is about more than the French Resistance (Melville went so far as to say it is not even a film about the Resistance!); it is a heightened allegory for the ethical decisions and search to maintain authenticity in life in general.