Product Description

LA BATAILLE DU RAIL, the remarkable and courageous film from noted French director René Clément (Forbidden Games, Gervaise), finally makes its way to home video. During the Occupation of France by Nazi Germany, French railway workers bravely battled the Nazi cause on many fronts. From transporting forbidden mail to committing acts of sabotage, these unsung heroes of the war were an invaluable tool of the French Resistance. Their efforts aided the Allied invasion in June 1944 and contributed mightily to its success.Clément completed his film during the final months of World War II under extremely dangerous conditions, using of a cast of non-professionals. Legendary cameraman Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast, Roman Holiday), himself a resistance fighter who escaped Nazi POW camps, shot the film in a gritty, semi-documentary style. All of these elements have caused film historians to compare LA BATAILLE DU RAIL to Rossellini's groundbreaking neorealist film Open City.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64198 in DVD
• Brand: FACETS VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-01-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 85 minutes

Customer Reviews

An epic of resistance!

"La bataille du rail" is (who doubts?) one of the most emotive and realistic war films ever made but focused from a totally new perspective. It deals with the different procedures tactics and strategies employed by these brave and anonymous railroad men, who risked their lives under the service of a free France.

The film is narrated in a semi- documental style, with a voice in off until the first third part of the movie, and explores all the set of trickeries, acts of sabotage in all the possible fronts; altering with a sophisticated web of communication by then, all the plans of the enemy in question.

Fascinating, mesmerizing and unforgettable film that fairly deserved the historical first Award in Cannes in 1946 as Best Film.

A classic and one of my preferred cult movies.