Would any of you have played the game?
Good question. And an uncomfortable one. I think we all imagine we would be on the right side and doing the right things but would we have acted at all? I don't like thinking of the answer.
Movement ends, intent continues;
Intent ends, spirit continues

You know I think this film is the closest we can get in knowing what it was like for those in the "Resistance". No fanfares, no political songs, no melodrama, no thinking of heroism. It was just plain killing and spying to defeat the Germans. The "realism" of the film is incredible. I don't know. Would any of you have played the game?

Jean-Franois put together the letter accusing himself of being with the resistance. I don't think he was a coward. He was trying to get to jail to get to his friend (and save him in his way). Note that he was beaten up badly, and no one was captured (i.e. he didn't blab.)

I think what the OP meant was that this film refuses to stoop to melodrama in order to bring out your emotions - rather, it tells its story so simply that it connects with you on a basic level, and makes you very emotional because you can identify with so many of the characters. I think in particular I was moved by Gerbier's decision no to run - and then running anyway. We've all been there in some respect.
If you remember, there's even that German guy in the beginning who's shown as a pretty decent guy, and Jean-Francois, shown at one point to be a coward before redeeming himself. Very realistic stuff there.
Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head."

a ha. so that is why it said lui-meme after his name in the credits.
Just watched it. Now reading about it.

Not an emotional film at all???- considering how you are basically rooting and sympathetic to The Resistance and the film immerses you in this shadow world with clearly right and wrong opponents- and you are able to think many times on how YOU would react or act in the same situations it was very easy to be emotionally involved in the story. Just because it was presented in drab colors and an understated acting style doesn't preclude it from being an emotional picture! In addition, this is real history the film is based on, at least in the sense that events and people like these occurred during WW2. It was a real coup and moving that Melville cast Andre Dewavrin as Colonel Passy (his actual code name in the Free French intelligence unit) and who helped organize the French Resistance movement.
This was an incredible tale with moral and troubling choices made at every step of the way. You felt an urge to feel sorry for these characters? I hope so! They were sticking their necks out constantly to fight the Nazi regime occupying their homeland.

actually, although I was very, very impressed with this film, I thought it was a bit slow, and could have used a little more emotion from the characters, but then again, that was the point, they were grim people, because it was a very, very grim time for them.
I kept on thinking about hogans hero's and how they showed the prepostperous rescues of french resistance fighters by having colonel hogan marching into gestapo headquarters with his bad german accent demanding to transfer the prisoner, then when the guard objected, hogan threatening to send him to the russian front!saying something like how his uncle was best friends with himler or something, and he could have him sent to the russian front. so the guard would always give in and release the prisoner.

It hit me really hard at the end of the movie, and during the credits.
All is grace