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The Army of Crime
The
film features in Paris, over the course of three years, from 1941 to
1944, during the Nazi occupation of France. A group of resistance
fighters - most of them being teenagers, commit random and disorganized
attacks against the occupying Nazi army, until an Armenian poet and
factory worker; Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian), becomes the leader
of this group of freedom fighters and together, with formulated,
strategic attacks, the Manouchian Network is born and they become an
army of crime - an army of criminal terrorists.
The
Army of Crime is a brilliant character study that features some very
tremendous performances, especially from its younger cast, showing that
they have no fear, being quite reckless in their attacks on the Nazi
force occupying their country, even with innocent civilians being killed
in the crossfire. The cast show that they are ready to die for their
country and for the freedom that they are trying to win. The film charts
the birth of their group (named FTP-MOI standing for Francs-Tireurs et
Partisans – Main-d'Œuvre Immigrée) up until the bitter end for its
members. The journey itself is quite intriguing, only sometimes plodding
along and not as gripping to watch, but it is a journey definitely worth
taking.
The
look of the film itself is quite striking to see, from the wartime
setting in Paris, to the production and costume design, all adding to an
incredibly accurate and authentic feeling to the era it is portraying.
The film itself looks very nice, not the best quality, but director -
Robert Guédiguian and cinematographer - Pierre Milon have captured the
country in a particularly stunning fashion, which again, adds to the
incredibly real and accurate feel to the country of France during that
historic time.
Like
the majority of DVDs from Madman, this release just come with the
standard theatrical trailer and trailers for other Madman releases as
extras.
The
Army of Crime is a respectively accurate film, showing the
courageous and dangerous lengths that people will go to win back their
freedom and punish those who have taken it from them. |
