'Best Reviewed Film of 2006'…whatever. ***Spoiler***
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Army of Shadows
thatsnumberwang — 19 years ago(May 18, 2006 07:05 PM)
I was so excited to see this film, and was so disappointed! I had already decided that I wanted to see it before I read any review of it. I've had it in my queue on IMDB to keep an eye on it for a DVD release for over a year nowand it just wasn't that great. I should have known because I really hated le samourai and cercle rouge, after all the hyperbole over those two. Don't haze me yet, because I very much enjoyed Bob le Flambeur and to a lesser degree, le doulos.
This is certainly a passable, and at times arresting film, but certainly not a "masterpiece" as so many have deemed. For one thing, I cannot STAND IT when movies are called "thrillers", yet don't really have an objective-based plot. For me this was more "a year in the life" type filmkind of like "Master and commander" was about "episodes in a life on a boat". I had to fight off sleep it was so slow moving. Some might argue that increases tensionI just say it increases droopy eyelids.
Frankly, when that rope appeared "deus ex machina"NO ONE has intelligence that good! What prison commandant gets a sadistic whim of how he's gonna execute everyoneand then tells enough people in advance so that it inevitably gets leaked to the resistance? I don't buy it. And what would they have done if someone else climbed up the rope than the intended rescue-ee?
saucybetty.blogspot.com -
animala — 19 years ago(June 19, 2006 08:08 PM)
"Frankly, when that rope appeared "deus ex machina"NO ONE has intelligence that good! What prison commandant gets a sadistic whim of how he's gonna execute everyoneand then tells enough people in advance so that it inevitably gets leaked to the resistance? I don't buy it. And what would they have done if someone else climbed up the rope than the intended rescue-ee? "
Yes Betty it was good timing, but I have seen far more ridiculous stunts and happenings in any Hollywood gangster or War movie.
Many German soldiers gave information for money, they were not all committed Nazis. many committed suicide becasue they hated what they were doing and despised their superiors. So leaks were common and not unbelievable at all.
ALso, soldiers did toy with prisoners and "suspects" and played games as the one you saw to give (false) hope to those to be executed that they could actually escape. One of the reasons they did this was this was how new informants could be created/recruited.
No one else in that group arrested that you saw in the tunnel was a Resistance fighter who would have been looking for a "way out" except Gerbier (which he nearly did not). The rest of those guys had purchased just black market coupons and were to be made an example of by the Collaborators.
It is possible that the Commandant himself was a member of the Red Orchestra, many of whom had rank and allowed resistance fighters to escape before most of them were rooted out by 1944 (the movie was placed in 1942). The little speech he gave made me think this.
This is a movie based on a real story shot in real time scenes so no it isn;t going to move like a Tarantino film. by the way, Melville is one of Tarantino's heroes.
It was an excellent film about some extraordinary people. -
marcus_barnett — 19 years ago(July 12, 2006 01:42 PM)
It could have easily happened. Escapees have often broke out and made reports of what happens. Bribery from the guards was another thing.The guards found this a good idea, because they were given protection by the Underground from their superiors if caught, and also got spare money, rations, jewellery, etc.
More shocking, well timed things have happened in real life, anyway. Jan Karski in his book 'Story of a secret state' tells the story of how he was under Gestapo torture, and tried to slash his own wrists.
He was took to the hospital, and the Doctor was in the resistance, and said - while standing next to a Gestapo officer - 'Here is some cyanide underneath your pillow. Your resistance cell is coming for you tonight'. The doctor came back later and said 'at midnight, I will light a cigarette outside of your room. You run for it and a man will lower you down from the window. You will get in a kayak and soon you will be back in Poland'. Sure enough, that happened - An unbelievable tale! -
Akzidenz_Grotesk — 17 years ago(April 19, 2008 02:38 PM)
What prison commandant gets a sadistic whim of how he's gonna execute everyone
I don't think the Nazis operated on "whims", at least in terms of the timing of operations. Note how the officer in charge of the execution stood gazing at his watch. He was waiting for the
exact
time to begin.
tv & film
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http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=9422378 -
conductor71-2 — 17 years ago(August 05, 2008 03:17 AM)
You are simply missing the point and being ridiculous
For one thing, I cannot STAND IT when movies are called "thrillers",
Well, this certainly is not a "thriller" in the pop-corn entertainment way you think. Indeed, it is not even advertised as a thriller, so your mistake.
For me this was more "a year in the life"
IT IS. It is based on Joseph Kessel's accounts on his own life as a resistance member, and adapted and filmed by Melville who also was a resistance member. Naturally it would never be an entertaining "thriller" that you would expect, but an honest account on how these people regarded their own lives.
I had to fight off sleep it was so slow moving. S
Simply proves that you were blindthere's A LOT of things going on, morally, philosophically and intellectually.
What prison commandant gets a sadistic whim of how he's gonna execute everyone
Errr. You saw that it was a "sadistic whim"? You are so blind. In the film it was very clearly depicted that it was a regular routine process for the Gestapo officers, even executed with precisions in time.
You obviously have been watching too many commercial junks like
Schindler's List
which so simply demonize German officers during WW II. The reality was never that simple. The reality for the German officers was that they were just doing the job they were ordered to do. These cruel executions were in no way "sadistic whims," but meticulously planed out with precisions, based on psychological studies about how to impose fear and how to manipulate people with fear.
So Mathilde just got some leaking information about how executions were done in that prison, and the exact time when the execution of that group including Gerbier would take place. Similar real-life account appears in Kessel's book.
Naturally,
The Army of Shadows
is so obviously too intelligent for your taste, I am afraid -
UCHoodman — 17 years ago(November 16, 2008 06:17 PM)
I wouldn't say that it's too intelligent, not at all, it's just not what most expect when they watch this. Heck they don't expect resistance, I guess they just expect something more, I liked it a lot, O it's not going into my top films of all time, but it's still a very good film
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karelia34 — 17 years ago(December 16, 2008 09:27 AM)
For what it's worth, I think there was a strong implication that it was the German officer himself who had given Mathilde the information. When in the car Gerbier says he was wondering what would have happened if he hadn't run and Mathilde puts her hand on his and looks at him meaningfully and the officer previously had been very precise about timing, and about getting Gerbier to run just a hunch, though.
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Gus-69 — 16 years ago(April 18, 2009 08:23 AM)
What a belly laugh In order to diss a poster with nehative opinion and praise this (great, yes) film, one has to call a universally acclaimed masterpiece like SCHINDLER'S LIST a "commercial junk". Strong argument indeed.
SCHINDLER'S LIST is anything but commercial - a three-hour, black-and-white, highly depressing and gritty historical war drama. Don't trash it because it deservedly summed up a good amount in box-office recepits.
Cinephile Empire:
http://imperiocinefilo2.blogspot.com/ -
max von meyerling — 16 years ago(July 06, 2009 12:39 AM)
I repeat, for those too lazy to simply Google or Wiki for the information, the Commandant was not a member of the Red Orchestra and did not allow resistants to escape and he did torture for pleasure. This is a real person, Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, the man whom the US brought to South America to teach various dictators how to torture. He spent his life torturing and became the leading expert on torture. He was a war criminal. This is no exaggeration. BTW almost all the violence is seen off screen. This a war of shadows and we see the shadows, not the spot lighted actions.