Film review: Resistance

There are numerous films about the French Resistance in World War II but this one is unique in that its hero is Marcel Marceau, the man who was to become the greatest mime artist of the 20th century.

Writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz, whose script is based on years of research, opens Resistance in 1938 Munich, where a young Jewish girl, Elsbeth (Bella Ramsey), witnesses the execution of both her parents by the Nazis.

That same year – in Strasbourg – Marcel Mangel (later to become Marcel Marceau) is working for his father as a butcher but spends his evenings entertaining small crowds in clubs with his mime routines.

He agrees to join his friends, including the politically active Emma (Clémence Poésy), to arrange shelter for 123 Jewish children, who they meet at a bridge on the French border. Marcel seems to not be highly regarded by his brother or his father, but he finds his niche in caring for the orphans – who include Elsbeth – and they soon come to love his entertaining antics in mime and clowning.

The children are taught practical skills, such as the ability to hide from Nazi soldiers, and before long, as the Germans attack France, Marcel decides they aren’t safe and need to be taken on a treacherous journey across the Alps to Switzerland.

Read the review in the InDaily.