25 Definitively Best Movies EVER (According To Critics AND Fans)

21. Army Of Shadows (1969)

Score: 92

There's a cliched picture in cinema of WW2 resistance fighters of clandestine everyman warriors who team up with advancing Good Guy armies to take down the Nazis with a certain rugged charm and a commitment to raids and insurgent missions. Army Of Shadows takes a different approach, telling a quieter tale of resistance that focuses on the enduring power of hope in even the darkest of situations.

It's about desperation, genuinely living in the shadows and perseverance. It's not as much about the war against the Nazis as it's about the war within the resistance's own minds. There's no cathartic release of them fighting back through action and no glory for those who die for their cause.

It wasn't appreciated in its contemporary time because of shifting attitudes to Charles DeGaulle, but its restoration and rerelease turned modern critics and fans back on to it. And rightly so.

Rotten Tomatoes: 97 Audience: 94 IMDB: 82 Letterboxd: 86 Metascore: 99