Jean-Pierre Melville is the master of suspense. Every scene here is filled with so much of it, I felt like I was sweating the whole movie. From the opening moment of Gerbier being transported to the prison until the very end, there was never a moment where it didn’t feel like danger was just around the corner. Which is just how these people felt; always scared, always aware that their next step could be their last. Few directors have been able to master that sensation, but Melville does it flawlessly for two and a half hours.

This is a story that turns conventional movie types on it’s head. Every character is unique and none of the characters are what you expect them to be. Our main hero is a schlubby former engineer and the young, handsome hero ends up being the one who falls apart. Melville has always been one to play with perceptions and here he takes a real life story that did the same thing and presents it to his audience. These people were heroes in the most unconventional of ways.

Ultimately the film is about the brutality of war and what even the most morally just of men are capable of when their back is against the wall. The film is a startling exploration of revenge, betrayal, cowardice, bravery and morality. The answers are not what we expect them to be and Melville and his actors surprise at almost every turn. It also doesn’t hurt that, like Melville’s other pictures, the film is absolutely gorgeous to look at (the Blu-Ray transfer is insanely crisp, some scenes look like they were just made yesterday). The picture deals with important issues on what it means to be a good person, or a “hero”, and as a result it makes for Melville’s most emotionally resonant film.