Film screening event "Army of Shadows"

On October 18th, I attended a film screening event held by the Film and Media Studies department. When I stepped in the filming hall, there were already plenty of people sitting in and awaiting for the screening of the film. After a brief introduction of the film and the film director, the screening started. The title of the film is "Army of Shadows", and I had not heard of this film before. It is based on the World War II in France and it told the story of the rebel group. The leader of the rebel group in France escaped from the concentration camp and eliminated the renegade who betrayed them with his assistant. However, when he found out that his another companion was arrested, he decided to rescue him but he failed as a result. Later the leader was arrested again, and a female warrior elaborately set up a plan to save him out. Nevertheless, the female warrior betrayed the group due to the safety of her daughter. At the end, the leader still killed the female warrior.

This film is not like other films about World War II which are advocating heroism. Actually, the film's style and color are quite severe, which did not make me feel pleased during the screening. It reflects the hardship of the rebel group in World War II that how they choose between their country and their lives. The two killing scenes at the beginning and at the end are really impressive. The two scenes evoked audiences' empathy to the warriors even though they are traitors. Not everyone in such situation can be heroic. Therefore, this film pays attention to the reflection of both the war and the resistance.

After watching the film, we had a short discussion about the film. This helped me understand the plot and the background of the film better. I think this event was really worthy for me in that it offered me an opportunity to see such a great old film.

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