There are so many great scenes in this film! The one where they kill the German guard and make a run for it. The one where they strangle the traitor. The parachute jump. The running... I could go on and on. So what is your favorite scene?
- This comment is most likely authentic and fairly close to what I intended to say -
Though the plane sequence had some laughable special effects reminiscent of Casablanca's phony model plane flying over the airport (made 27 years earlier!) I was really impressed by the scenes inside with Gerbier- especially the one where the poor guy is rousted up from sleep by the jumpmaster fellow as they encounter a flak attack, he's told it's all clear he can get more sleep (!) and then he's awakened again later and out he goes! But not without an initial hesitation you notice! The whole sequence was brilliant, unheroic and true to real life. His mind must have been scrambled and in a daze but he did his duty. I can't imagine a night jump for the first time and in those circumstances too.
Yes the German guard killing and run was intense and I liked the way Melville stayed with him running for so long. They talked about that in the bonus features- most directors, including one of his favorites, William Wyler, wouldn't have had that scene run as long as it did.
strangling fo the traitor
shareThe strangling of the traitor is intense. It's a great scene.
I also love the part when you see Mathilde in many different disguises.
My favorite scene of all is when Jean Francois visits his brother. I liked the nick names they had for each other. It's great that they are both apart of it but they never tell each other or find out about the other.
Gerbier's escape after knifing the Nazi guard and the strangling of the traitor are two standout scenes that spring to mind, but I love how viscerally powerful the almost-execution-turned-escape sequence is when they make the prisoners run from the machine gun. From the moment they're led from their cell right up through the rest of the movie it's a masterful exercise in tension and economy.
shareGreat scenes from the army of shadows
1. Nazi soldiers marching in the beginning
2. The part where phillipe stabbed the german soldier made a run for it and decides to get a clean SHAVE brilliant!
3. rowboat to the royal navy's submarine
4. trip to the old rent house before killing the traitor
5. the parachute jump
6. Jean francois avoiding luggage check by helping the lady carry a child
7. the infamous machine gun scene
strangling fo the traitorYeah, that was gut-wrenching. It is made even more distressing by the wimpering from the young man because he knows he is going to die. This was remarkable for a number of reasons. First, despite the fact that we see more of the killers than the victim, the scene is quite graphic, certainly in its emotional context. Secondly, the way it is constructed and played out flies in the face of what we are supposed to expect from something like this. Le Masque finds it unbearable, as I'm sure I would. The young man, virtually incapacitated by terror, does not attempt to fight back and we hear no "last act of defiance" speeches or those other long standing cliches we're used to. I'm sure we'd all like to believe we'd be brave or defiant to the end but nobody can really know. Because of that it is shocking in its authenticity. Many scenes in this film are constructed around this dichotomy, including the scene in the tunnel when different people respond in different ways. share
This is a bit out there I suppose, but my favorite scenes are the interactions between Gerbier and Legrain (the Communist in the camp early on). Heck, I wrote an essay about those scenes. They really showed why Gerbier was a leader, IMO.
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam. (Furthermore, I think Carthage ought to be destroyed.)
all good scenes guys, but, this scene was what impressed me the most. it symbolizes the nazi's. it's the scene where the 3 resistance people, the woman, and the two men, disguise themselves as red cross germans, and drive right up to gestapo headquarters to try to rescue their comrade. it was a very slow scene, very deliberate, but what got to me, was the germans efficiency of their security at this place. this is what got me, the sound of the big steel doors locking, and unlocking. they wait to enter, and you hear this bang, bang bang of the doors unlocking, then as they go in, again, this bang, bang bang. then the inner door does it again, bang, bang bang. and the guards stoic expressions, no emotion, just ruthless efficiency. all the time they are going in, and out, of these doors, nobody is talking, no sound at all, just this ominus, bang, bang bang of the steel doors locking and unlocking. it all represents the brutality, the horribleness of the place.
also, when I first saw the opening of the film, with the arch de triumph there, I thought, surely they will not recreate the germans marching in, surely the french would not recreate this, it's too sore of a wound to see, or recreate in the exact location. then to my surprise, they did it. must have done it very early in the morning when not many people were up, or were not allowed near the area or something. it really surprised me that they did this. wonder if any older people were there watching it being filmed and brought back nightmares for them.
also, when the main character goes to london, then goes back, wow, can you imagine? getting out of the nightmare, and willingly going back into it? knowing you probably will be caught, and tortured by the gestapo? if it were me, I think I would have told the british F.U. I'm staying here, make up an excuse like I can better serve the resistance by staying in london and coordinating the guys from here.
may the nazi gestapo agents who participated in the war all rot in H.E. double toothpicks, you know who you are, if you are still alive, may you rot.
This film is full of great scenes, but what i thought was a really great piece of symbolism was when they are watching gone with the wind in the uk and the exit the cinema and theyre walking along the street and one of them says, thats a really great film, after the war everyone should see that movie, and the camera pans off them onto, Gone With The Wind... how great
shareBesides a few mentioned here, I also really loved the scene before the execution in the prison, where each of the inmates is passed a cigarette packet. And then a lighter.
Its a sweet scene, deliberately slow and detailed, just to recount that final smoke moment before death.
My favorite was the last scene when I realized that this piece of dung was FINALLY over! Worst movie in the history of the universe. All copies should be sent to a concentration camp and gassed, then burned in an oven. Then the ashes should be dissolved in acid. Then this residue should be shot into deep space.
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