L'armée du crime

Liberté, égalité et fraternité. The motto of France is certainly not very apt to describe the time of Nazi occupation. The nationalistic French mainly capitulated to the Germans, and left the resistance to a bunch of immigrants - Italians, Armenians, Jews, Hungarians, Spaniards, etc.

This is the real Inglorious Basterds. The story of those who continually picked at the Germans and made their lives miserable. They don't go home in glory, but their names are on a role of honor for those who served to fight oppression everywhere.

An American poet, Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian), and his wife Mélinée (Virginie Ledoyen) lead the group.

Director Robert Guédiguian does an excellent job of capturing the period, and letting us get to know the actors before the action starts.

I'm surprised at some of the comments here. Cliff Hanley I think you'll find that all the members of the gang were white so can't see where you got the idea that the leader had a 'multi-coloured' gang. From different national and religious groups, yes. Can't say I agree that his comments are anti-Semitic, David W - Hanley's comments about the Palestinians are simply irrelevant. I was struck by the coldness of both sides. What does come through is that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. At least the gang tried not to kill civilians, but that came from the members not the leaders. What Mr Timothy has against 'knobs', I do not know! 'Nazi knobs' 'Commie knobs' - how about door knobs? I thought that this was a very powerful film - with few redeeming characters. Under extreme circumstances people give up their ethics, but at what price? Betrayal, either innocent or knowing is one of the major themes of the arts (see Graham Greene's books).

Paris is under German occupation. The Germans invade the Soviet Union and start rounding up communists. Mélinée's husband Missak Manouchian is an Armenian writer who escaped the genocide. Soon, he's picked up the Nazis. She's working with the resistance. He leads them after he's released. Marcel Rayman is a Jew angered by the Nazi propaganda. After his father's arrest, he steals a gun and starts killing German soldiers.

This is a traditional movie about the French resistance. Virginie Ledoyen leads a big cast of characters. Fewer lead characters could have intensified each person's story. There are way too many side characters in the group. The movie needs to stay on the Manouchians and Marcel and only them. It's a little stop and go with the flow. It's well filmed but needs a bit more to differentiate from the standard retelling.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film. The movie is very well made. The lighting and cinematography is impeccable. The scenes are constructed beautifully. The casting was brilliant. The actors did a very good job. The direction was good. Robinson Stévenin and Gregoire LePrice-Ringuet were fantastic. Virginie Ledoyen is also maturing into a great leading lady.

Aside from the technical brilliance of the film in its fine classic film making, the movie is about heroic men and women who risked their lives for their country even though many of the characters were immigrants. These men and women loved France and died for their rights as well as for the rights of their families and fellow citizens. There were some controversies surrounding this film due to possible historical inaccuracies, yet, I found this movie objective in its portrayal of the characters. There are no long drawn melodramas here but just characters who are compelled to fight for their freedom and the rights of others. I highly recommend this film.

This film had several good points: It showed the tense but complacent life of Jews in Paris during the occupation. "He'll be eliminated." "You don't know that for sure." It showed the complicity of the French administration doing the Nazi's dirty deeds. But we've seen that before.

It gave pause to wonder whether these resistance fighters were actually achieving anything of significance or risking their lives to pop off a few Nazi soldiers for no great tactical advantage.

It offered the viewer titillating glimpses of two beautiful actresses, Virginie Ledoyen and Lola Naymark.

But on the whole, the movie was dull. The characters were flat. There was little development in the plot: rather, a series of adventures culminating in predictable misadventure. It dragged on from one scene to the next without engaging. Six out of ten.