RESISTANCE JESSE EISENBERG REVIVES THE HERO OF WORLD WAR II

World War is one of the events that has never been used as material for story adaptations for various films. Resistance is one of the warmest World War themed films which was just released on demand on April 17th. This film had dominated the United States box office at its theatrical screening since March 27, 2020 before finally being discontinued due to COVID-19.

Resistance was realized through the collaboration of nine film companies from three countries, namely the United States, Britain and Germany. Jonathan Jakubowicz is the director and script writer for this 120-minute film.

Meanwhile, the central character in Resistance , Marcel Marceau, is played by Jesse Eisenberg . The film also features Clémence Poésy, Matthias Schweighöfer, Ed Harris, Félix Moati, Vica Kerekes, and Bella Ramsey .

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Synopsis
During the early days of World War II, thousands of Jewish children were orphaned after their parents were killed. Meanwhile, Marcel Marceau, a young Jew in France who works as a pantomimer, spends part of his time as a volunteer at the shelter for Jewish children.

When Germany finally managed to control most of the Western Front, including France, Marcel Marceau was moved to do more for his children. Together with underground resistance groups in France, he is trying to smuggle the Jewish orphans across danger to safer Switzerland.

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Review
Resistance is not the first film to combine the war genre with a biography. Some of the best war films ever made place brutal battle scenes as only the setting for the main story which focuses on one central character. These characters are often inspired by real figures in the real world who really played a significant role when that historic moment occurred.

Heroic stories in the context of war are a kind of theme that is hard not to like. These heroes were just ordinary people who were brave enough to endanger themselves for the lives of others. Who, however, will not be touched when they see that there is hope and goodness in the midst of wartime atrocities?

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Just look at the figure of Oskar Schindler, the German man in Schindler's List (1993) who, instead of siding with his country, saved thousands of Jews by recruiting them as workers in his factories. Or, Desmond T. Doss in Hacksaw Ridge (2016) , a medical soldier who single-handedly saved the lives of 75 of his fellow soldiers at the Battle of Okinawa.

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Most recently, William Schofield's all-out struggle against time in 1917 (2019) was rewarded with high appreciation in the 2020 awards season. This proves that the world is still interested in such heroic stories.

Resistance also raised this theme again by focusing his story on the figure of Marcel Marceau. Marceau is widely recognized as one of the great pantomymers of the 20th century. Innovatively, he often brings up humanitarian issues in his performances.

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Even so, not many know that apart from being an artist, Marceau was also active in French Resistance, a sporadic resistance movement carried out by civilians in France during World War II.

The Resistance prologue features a Jewish married couple sleeping their only daughter, Elsbeth. However, instead of the fairy tales they tell, the parent-child talk at bedtime focuses on explaining why the Nazis hated and tried to get rid of the Jews.

What happens next begins the dark amosphere that Jakubowicz tries to apply throughout the rest of the film. Elsbeth saw the Gestapo troops storming her house and killing the girl's parents right before her eyes.

The film then switches to a slightly warmer moment, when the character Marcel Marceau is introduced through an argument with his father which is quite hilarious. Marceau (Marceau's surname was actually Mangel before he joined French Resistance) was just a young man who had dreams of a career as a professional mime artist.

Marceau's days change when she begins volunteering at a castle where her Jewish relatives are hiding hundreds of war-torn Jewish children. Not much different from the way Guido comforted his son in Life is Beautiful (1997) , Marceau also dedicated his artistic skills to bring a glimmer of laughter to the frightened children, including Elsbeth.

Unfortunately, Resistance relied more on star power from Jesse Eisenberg. Coming out of his typical character as a socially awkward bookworm, Eisenberg revives the figure of a legendary mime artist who, as versatile in his pantomime choreography, is charismatic in his acting. It is also important to mention Bella Ramsey, who appeared quite solidly as Elsbeth, who seized the audience's empathy.

Jakubowicz focuses too much on following the narrative formulas of films like Schindler's List , although it tries to disguise it with contemporary cinematic techniques. He tries to insert the same horror by creating a dominant antagonist. In Resistance , the character is Klaus Barbie, a ruthless Nazi leader whose job is to eradicate the rebels in the city of Lyon, France.

The confrontation between Marceau and Barbie in the end often seems comical when morality is presented in black and white contrasts. Ironically, unlike Schindler's List which is quite complex in exploring the intricate dynamics between Oskar Schindler and Amon Göth, Resistance is the kind of film that when parents watch it with their children, it is not difficult to pinpoint the bad and the good.

This film also provides a back story that is not essential to each character, including for Klaus Barbie and for a number of members other than the French Resistance movement . If it could be intertwined well with the main narrative, this would certainly not be a problem.

However, it became increasingly clear that this had become an issue in itself as the film approached the end, and the premise that was highlighted in the synopsis had not yet emerged. Marceau's tense journey in smuggling Jewish children through deadly terrain in the snowy mountains of Switzerland gets a measly portion nearly in the final quarter of the story.

Even so, several scenes in Resistance managed to leave a distinct impression. Once, Marceau's character grabs a torch and, like a circus performer, he spits oil from his mouth until the flames lick up at one of the Nazi soldiers.

We can also witness golden moments whenever Eisenberg demonstrates his hidden proficiency as a pantomymer. Even for those of us who are unfamiliar with this art, the pantomime featured in Resistance provides a glimpse of an emotional message.

At least, the film Resistance can again refresh the world's memory about how terrible life was during World War. This film also succeeds in presenting the audience with a hero who touches the human side in us once again.

 

Conclusion
Resistance is a war drama combined with a biography that offers an inspiring story about one of the unsung heroes in the events of the World War. Unfortunately, this film relies too much on star power from Jesse Eisenberg .

Resistance also focuses too much on patterns and atmospheres that have been used in similar themed films such as Schindler's List . The protagonist and antagonist characters are polarized in a simple and straightforward way that makes them feel comical. Even so, there are some memorable scenes to be found in Resistance , including how Eisenberg's characterseems so immersed in each of his appearances as a mime artist.