Army Of Shadows

Made in 1969 but released in the US for the first time in 2006, Jean-Pierre Melville's dark portrayal of the French Resistance movement begins as solemn Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), a civil engineer, is transported to a French interment camp. His fellow prisoners recognize him as someone who's "needed on the outside," but before they can arrange his escape he's moved to another location and must stage his own breakout — coolly dooming the unsuspecting fellow prisoner he uses as a diversion and dispatching a young guard with unnerving calm. Set in late 1942 and early 1943, the film follows the exploits of a small group of fighters, who fight in secrecy and with l...