Army of Shadows - 6

A rather dark and stoic film about a group of intelligent French resister's of the Nazi's in WWII. Set in 1942, the film follows Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), a civil engineer, who works as a chief- organizing and collecting useful intelligence. He works with a few others and the film is constantly showing the fragile loyalty and trust that exists between the members. Based on the novel by Joseph Kessel, and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, Army of Shadows portrays a realistic (which in this case means dark) portrait of the Nazi's total control of occupied France and the danger that resistance posed. The film has very little dialogue with long scenes of tense and intricate shots of people's movements and attempts to get in and out of danger. Worth watching for the film fanatic or if you are interested in WWII history, but it is a slow moving film and doesn't have the passion or feeling of films like Schindler's List, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, or The White Rose.