Alicia Veliz – Guest Writer
Resistance is a biographical war drama inspired by the life of Marcel Mangel better known as Marcel Marceau and the world’s most renowned mime. He was born in Strasbourg, France in 1923 to a Jewish family. The film mainly centres around events that took place during WWII in Nazi-occupied France. Resistance stars Jesse Eisenberg, Clémence Poésy, Matthias Schweighöfer, Ed Harris and Edgar Ramirez and is directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz.
Now, let me start the review by saying that Jesse Eisenberg is not one of my favourite actors and he is kind of one note for me most of the time. He also gets the award for the worst Lex Luthor portrayal to date. However, he does have his moments. You can check him out in Adventureland and American Ultra for a couple of his better performances.
Here he plays the role of Marcel and once you get over his terrible interpretation of the French accent, you are good to go along for the ride. He was able to transmit the pain and confusion that would be felt by anyone going through those circumstances to the audience quite successfully. His character development did not seem rushed and the supporting cast had great onscreen chemistry.
We all know the horrific events that took place during WW II and the opening scene is quite sudden and abrupt, and sets the tone for the rest of the film. There are moments when the situation is so raw and you see what war does to people especially to children who have lost their parents. Children who see parents executed right before their eyes. The reality of losing the ones that you love in the split of a second. There are very nerve wracking scenes where you see the cruelty of the Nazis, but thankfully without being overly graphic to perturb the viewer.
I am awfully familiar with this director work having known a bit of his history. Jonathan Jakubowicz is a Venezuelan director best known in Venezuela for the 2005 film Secuestro Express (based on his own experience with kidnapping) and Hands of Stone (2016). Unfortunately, he was forced to leave Venezuela by then President Hugo Chavez for his safety.
While I know that this movie would not be everyone’s cup of tea, I believe that it is important to look at this genre of movies once in awhile to remind us that real heroes did exist even back then and during the worst of times. And to not give up hope, especially in terms of the current events that we are experiencing right now. For me this would be one of my top picks for the year.
Rating: 8 out 10.
Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Alicia our guest writer for today and who has featured in both of our horror icon collabs (which you can read here and here). It is our pleasure to get your great reviews out to the masses.
For another true story on film check out a Quick Bite Review of Escape From Pretoria here.