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Franky Mullin
World History in Cinema
Davis
4 May 2017
Army of Shadows
In Jean-Pierre Melville’s adaptation of Joseph Kessel’s novel, we
follow a group of French resistant fighters in Nazi occupied France. We follow them through their
journey of being captured, tortured, escaping, traveling, persuading, killing, running, hiding, and
eventually dying. The film mainly follows Philippe Gerbier who seems to be the initial leader but
ends up being basically the second in command under Luc Jardie. The film also follows character
Jean Francois Jardie, Mathilde, Claude Ullman dit ‘Le Masque’, Felix Lepercq, and Guillaume
Vermersch dit ‘Le Bison’. Each one demonstrates a straightforward and determined personality.
Each one also demonstrates a strength in the film that is both cunning and suave. Basically, each
character represents the hole secret, spy, and determination aspect that one could expect from an
individual in secret resistance. The secret French resistance had looked to dismantle the Nazi
occupation of France, not by putting an all-out military force but by, as critic Roger Ebert puts it,
“pose as ordinary citizens, lead two lives, spy on the Germans, provide information to the Allies,
and sometimes carry out guerilla raids against the enemy.” The individuals involved knew the
price they would have to pay if they were caught, as well as knew the good they were doing. The
movie does an excellent job at demonstrating the character’s true emotion as well as how they
faced certain situations. From start to finish director Melville does an excellent of portraying the
complexity and mixed emotion that a spy against the Nazis must face during this era in history. To
understand how well portrayed the movie is, one must first exam the film, consider the
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development of each character, and finally interpret key elements that help portray the overall
purpose of the film.
One of the more realistic historical aspects of the movie occurs
within the beginning of the film. The movie opens to Nazi soldiers marching in front of Arc de
Triomphe. This scene demonstrates the control that the Nazi forces have over the country of
France. With France being the force they are, having the Nazi forces marching in front of this
important French monument emphasizes the control the Nazi’s had. The film overall is historical
fiction based on the novel by Joseph Kessel. The novel title “L’Armee des ombres”, which
translated is “Army of Shadows”. The title of the film pays homage to the idea of the spys
working in secret for the French rebellion of the Nazi forces. The individuals hid in the shadows
and worked for the good of France like an army. After the short scene of the Nazis, the film
opens to a rainy setting with a van driving through the French countryside. The date set for this
moment in the film is October 20, 1942. During the month of October in 1942 WWII was in full
swing. The Nazi forces had occupied the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Denmark,
Yugoslavia, Greece, Norway and Western Poland. The Nazi’s were occupying mainly the
northern part of France, which collaborated with the French, while the southern part of France
was a “Free State”. In the van, we are introduced to two gentlemen, one wearing a military
uniform while the other is dressed in a normal suit. One thing that is hard to catch is a reference
to the “Phony War”, which was “fought” in the early months of WWII. It was the six-month
period during which no land operations were undertaken by the Allies or the Germans. This
occurred after the conquest of Poland by the Nazis. The main character in the movie is brought to
a French ran internment camp. Here we learn more about Philippe Gerbier.
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Philippe Gerbier is regarded as the main character of the film. The
film states that he is 41 years old and is a respected engineer in the department of Public Works.
The noticeable side notes noticed in the film is the fact that he might have connections, must be
brought to heel, he is suspected of having “Gaullist” tendencies, and to handle him with care.
One of the major historical aspects is the “Gaullist” tendencies. To have “Gaullist” tendencies is
to follow Charles de Gaulle who desired the legitimacy and continuity of France. Individuals
who demonstrated “Gaullist” tendencies usually fought for the independence of France from
Nazi occupation. After settling down in the camp, Gerbier starts to formulate an escape plan with
Legrain, a communist. Both are good with electricity so both start putting together an escape
plan. While they are planning, Gerbier notices all the different races that in the camp with him.
There was a mixture of various people from various walks of life. As the day was approaching to
their escape, Gerbier was requested to travel to Nazi occupied France for further questioning.
While waiting for his encounter with the Nazis, him and another traitor took on an armed guard
and made it out to escape. On the way that Gerbier was escaping, he had stopped inside a barber
shop, in which he got a shave. The barber seems to know something just like Gerbier does. At
the end of the shave, the barber give him an old coat so that he may disguise a bit more, in order
to hide better. After the escape of Gerbier we then transition to the introduction of Felix Lepercq.
Felix Lepercq is introduced by him grabbing and “arresting a
traitor”. This starts to bring an even darker element, that when you are a spy or fighting for a
cause, you must be willing to die. Felix kidnapped Paul Dounat. Felix and Gerbier were planning
on murdering Dounat due to him being a traitor. Because of this, Felix and Gerbier sneak into a
dark home that they rented to take down this snitch. They then find out that the home next door
is rented out, so they cannot use a gun. Since they could not use a gun, they searched for a knife
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to no avail. This brings a darker element to the film but them having to kill Dounat by strangling/
gagging with a rag or napkin. This was a first kill for some of them and this brings them into the
harsh world of a resistance movement. During this murder scene, we are also introduced to two
other main characters in the film, Claude Ullmann dit ‘Le Masque’ and Guillaume Vermersch dit
‘Le Bison’. Le Masque and Le Bufflo are their code names so to speak, and they are referred to as
such throughout the film. There is a reality check within Le Masque as well as Gerbier after the
murder, both never thought they would kill one of their own, let alone have one of their own be a
traitor. That was just the dark reality of being in a secret resistance movement. Gerbier even
suggests to Le Masque to always carry cyanide pills because dying is better than rating out your
comrades. This is one of the first times that we see internal struggle within the characters as well.
Each character seems to have this internal struggle of right and wrong when compared to the
