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DVD Description
Interview with Robert Guédiguian Army of crime at Cannes 2009 Trailer Meeting Virginie Ledoyen & Simon Abkarian Rendez-vous with Robert Guédiguian & Ariane Ascaride (French communist party meeting) French trailer Meeting a survivor: Henri Karayan
Product Description
Virginie Ledoyen, Simon Abkarian, Robinson Stevenin, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Yann TregouetDirector: Robert Guediguian
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a very enjoyable World War II adventure movie; featuring a story about the French resistance. It is made up of the usual elements that a good movie needs to succeed - action, romance, colour and excitement. The backdrop to the bulk of the story is Paris; the sight of which is bound to be a crowd pleaser in its own right. An efficient movie therefore; Hollywood by the Seine so to speak. What makes this movie unusual is the nature of the resistance group portrayed here. It is composed of immigrants, refugees and the descendants of such. Classed by the puppet Vichy regime as aliens some French Jews take up arms to fight the Nazis and their Vichy allies. Italian and Spanish anti-fascist refugees join their ranks as do other groups amongst them French citizens of Polish and Armenian descent. Outraged at the occupation of their adoptive homeland and at the sight of French police and civil servants cravenly doing the bidding of their Nazi overlords these "outsiders" take up arms to attempt to restore the lost honour of France. The Vichy regime sneeringly refers to them as a bandit group, an army of crime, whose actions no true Frenchman could support. What makes the film even more fascinating is that it is based, with a little fictionalisation, on real life events. The French police, as directed by Vichy, rounded up Jews - French Jews as well as Jewish citizens of other states on the run in France from the Nazis - plus anti-Nazi refugees from other occupied states and handed them over to the Nazis. All this voluntarily, without the need for a demand, or even a request, from the occupying Germans. Vichy's political police are seen here being congratulated by a senior SS officer for their skills in torturing prisoners- skills, he states, which made the SS look like amateurs! All true, every last word of it. Robert Guediguian, the producer of this movie, chose to make this film in order to make these facts more widely known. There is an excellent interview with the producer included as an extra on this disc where he goes into the actual background history to the story in some depth. A very good film. Not only hugely enjoyable but a fascinating insight into a troubled period of history; a period where a group of people denounced by their own goverment as rootless foreign criminals and terrorists showed themselves to be some of the most patriotic Frenchmen of all.
44 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The army of crime, relates about a not so glorious time in French history and sets a precedent in showing the active collaboration of the French police during the Nazis occupation. The story follows Missak Manouchian, a poet and Armenian refugee setting up a group of resistants made up of young migrants who settled in France because it was the country of human rights, or so they thought.
Until recently French history books had omitted to mention the role of the French police collaborating with the Nazis, in 1995 Président Jacques Chirac acknolewdged their responsibility in deporting jews during the Second World War. Robert Guediguian has put his soul in this film and even if we know the outcome, it is difficult not to get attached to his characters. Those young men and Olga Bancic the only woman in the group were full of dreams, ready to sacrifice their life for their adopted country, they didnt flinch or hesitate killing to make an impact. Simon Akbarian and Virginie Ledoyen the main characters, are very convincing, as are Robinson Stevenin and the other actors.
I felt completly moved by this story who took place more than 70 years ago, their bravoury could have been relegated to a distant past, thanks to Robert Guediguian they will become part of our memory.
Until recently French history books had omitted to mention the role of the French police collaborating with the Nazis, in 1995 Président Jacques Chirac acknolewdged their responsibility in deporting jews during the Second World War. Robert Guediguian has put his soul in this film and even if we know the outcome, it is difficult not to get attached to his characters. Those young men and Olga Bancic the only woman in the group were full of dreams, ready to sacrifice their life for their adopted country, they didnt flinch or hesitate killing to make an impact. Simon Akbarian and Virginie Ledoyen the main characters, are very convincing, as are Robinson Stevenin and the other actors.
I felt completly moved by this story who took place more than 70 years ago, their bravoury could have been relegated to a distant past, thanks to Robert Guediguian they will become part of our memory.
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Well-acted and reasonably historically accurate, Army of Crime portrays the creation of a resistance group in World War Two Paris. The first act of the film shows us the motivations, reservations and hesitations of the men and women who eventually formed a resistance group composed mainly of immigrants. Once they start to attack the German occupiers, the film becomes more of a war adventure movie. The film does not shy away from the ruthless activities of the Paris Police's "Brigade Speciale", formed to track down communists and resiters, and most of the police characters were real policemen. Nor does Army of Crime gloss over the indiscipline and naivety of the resistants and their consequences.
Overall, an excellent depiction of the heroic immigrants and outcasts who fought and died for France, and the French "patriots" who hunted them down, tortured them and then handed them over to the Germans for execution or deportation to Buchenwald and Auschwitz. What lifts the film above similar wartime dramas is the character of Missak Manouchian, the leader of the group, who wrote in a letter to his wife, written form a Gestapo prison cell "I have no hate for the German people".
Overall, an excellent depiction of the heroic immigrants and outcasts who fought and died for France, and the French "patriots" who hunted them down, tortured them and then handed them over to the Germans for execution or deportation to Buchenwald and Auschwitz. What lifts the film above similar wartime dramas is the character of Missak Manouchian, the leader of the group, who wrote in a letter to his wife, written form a Gestapo prison cell "I have no hate for the German people".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What did you do in the war Daddy?
A film about a group of young boys/men fleeing tyrany and who ended up in Paris at the time of the German occupation. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
"At the moment of death, I proclaim that I have no hatred for the...
The camera pans slowly from face to face...22 men and one woman. Some look out the window of the transport they're seated in. Some seem angry, others resigned. Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. O. DeRiemer
Worth a View
This dvd will be of great interest to anyone interested in what went on in France during the second world war, in particular Paris. Read more
Published 7 months ago by R. J. Carter
Can I have a light?
Army of Crime is a gripping story of resistance in occupied France. There is a big cast and some intertwining stories. The film looks very good and the acting is superb. Read more
Published 9 months ago by j.r
Necessary Revisionism
This is a brilliant, moving and much needed film which tells the story of the Manouchian Group, or the 'Affiche Rouge' - a resistance cell led by the Armenian poet Missak... Read more
Published 9 months ago by jijiandnoah
A little disappointing
I wanted to like this film but found it quite slow in parts. It tried to show what Paris was like under the occupation and succeeded in this but for me there was too much... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. D. J. Linnell
Army Of Crime [DVD] 2009
I ordered this just before Christmas and it arrived a few days later (depite all the bad weather). This is an excellent war movie, well acted and a superb story. Read more
Published 14 months ago by John Bagshaw
subtitles, superb blu ray
As is usually the case for subtitled films it takes a minute or two to get used to, you then do not notice that the film is french spoken.. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. E. Newbold
Good Story
This is a good storyline and is based on fact,if you can put up with the subtitles,(Not everyone can)The action and suspense are well done.
Published 16 months ago by RT
Reasonable WWII reconstruction
If nothing else this film is a good reconstruction of the events and persons involved in the French resistance, based on true events and people,and is a salute to their bravery and... Read more
Published 17 months ago by M. P. Campbell
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