Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Clemence Poesy, Felix Moati, Vica Kerekes, Matthais Schweighofer, Geza Rohrig, Ed Harris, Bella Ramsey, Martha Issova, Karl Markovics, Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey, Alex Fondja, Aurelie Bancilhon, Alicia Von Rittberg, Louise Morell, Wolfgang Ceczor, Philip Lenkowsky, Edgar Ramirez, Klara Issova, Dimitri Storoge, Felicity Montague.
It is perhaps understandable that we look at life with a sense of myopia, a lack of seeing the larger picture, only content to know what have already gleaned from our youth and dismissing any further layering of contextualisation or adding to our knowledge of events, of other cultures, or indeed how different people view and appreciate art; understandable but not a train of thought that should be approved of, must not be allowed to prevail.
There are an abundance of films that deals with the holocaust brought down on the heads of European Jews during the Nazi reign of evil and terror during World War Two, but perhaps none so out of the ordinary and left field as the tale of international mime artist Marcel Marceau and his heroics as a young man during those dark days.
Resistance is the story modern students of film and theatre arguably never knew and would probably never guess at in a million years. The theatre of silence to which is an apt description of how the world only saw this remarkable human being, is the perfect analogy to how the secretive world of resistance against evil works, silence, not wishing to brag or boast about exploits past, instead focusing on the art of silence in performance, spreading the word of joy instead of the message of hate to which his counterpart in the film, the terrifying and despicable figure of The Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie, was a constant reminder of.
When we think of a person’s life, we can see the joins between friendships and how one famous figure can inspire another, the whole schoolyard phenomenon which sees two people from the same class in school or university become leaders in their chosen field because of the drive of the other; but when it comes to a figure of hate having met a person who emulated beauty, as is to be found in this segment of time covering the life of the mime artist, it becomes incredible, a moment framed for eternity to which is scarcely believable and yet so obvious that the scene shot in the train carriage can be seen to show the rank hypocrisy and evil of the Third Reich’s mantra.
Jesse Eisenberg captures the essence of Marcel Marceau wonderfully, not just his character, but his soul, his reason to be on Earth, and with incredible support from Matthais Schweighofer as Klaus Barbie, Bella Ramsey as the orphaned Jewish girl who whose parents were murdered during Kristallnacht and Clemence Poesy in perhaps her finest role to date as Emma, Resistance is a film to which there are no words fitting enough in which to praise the scope and feel of the message being delivered.
Incredible, passionate, a hushed mark of respect for a figure to whom the world only really knew as a theatrical clown. Astonishing from start to finish.
Ian D. Hall