RESISTANCE
UK, France, Germany, US, 2020, 122 minutes, Colour.
Jesse Eisenberg, Clemence Poesy, Felix Moati, Vica Kerekes, Matthias Schweighofer, Geza Rohrig, Ed Harris, Bella Ramsey, Karl Markowics, Edgar Ramirez.
Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz.
A moving story of the French Resistance – but not quite the storytelling and focus that we might have expected. Over many decades, even during World War II, there were many stories of the Resistance, especially in France. There have also been films about the rescue of orphans, getting them out of France, over the Alps, into the safety of Switzerland. And, indeed, this is the theme here.
However, this is also the story of the celebrated French mime-artist, Marcel Marceau. And he is played, unexpectedly, by Jesse Eisenberg. It would seem that those critics who have an aversion to Jesse Eisenberg do not like the film at all. Those who like Jesse Eisenberg as a screen presence, appreciate his interpretation of Marcel, and of his mining. Many, however, find his performances idiosyncratically irritating but may agree that in the mannerisms and tics are quietly controlled and that he brings Marcel Marceau sympathetically to life
The film opens on Krystallnacht, November 1938, Jewish parents assuring their daughter that all will be well, that the economy will improve and affect Hitler, but immediately, the house is attacked and the little girl witnesses the death of her parents. There is an immediate transition to Strasbourg, Alsace, on the French-German? border, a club where a young man is performing mime, and imitation of Charlie Chaplin, Hitler-moustache and all. He is Marcel Mangel, son of a Jewish butcher (Karl Markovics) who does not approve of his son’s arts ambitions. His brother Alain works for the resistance as do Emma (and engaging Clemence poesy) and her sister.
As Hitler invades Poland in 1939, the residents of Strasbourg are all moved to the south, including a number of German orphans who have crossed the border. Young locals take care of the children, Marcel able to gather them together, lift their spirits, involving them in his mime games.
The film also inserts a lot of actual footage from newsreels of the time, making Hitler’s impact and his determination to eliminate the Jews from Europe the more forceful.
The film gathers pace as the refugees travel to Lyon, in Vichy-led France, but soon the whole of the country is Nazi-occupied. Many audiences will remember the reputation of Klau Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyon’ and his headquarters at the Hotel Terminus. Barbie becomes a powerful presence in this film, instantly repellent as he and his men enter a gay club in Berlin and bash the members mercilessly. He is shown in Lyon, in command, encouraging collaborators to give information, cruelly taunting then shooting victims in the swimming pool of the Terminus, as the children, now being sheltered by a priest in the church, singing Ave Maria. Still on Barbie, he is also shown as welcoming his wife, his young daughter, more humanely concerned about his daughter’s future. But, nevertheless, torturing, viciously, two of the women in the group who protect the children. He is played most effectively by Mathias Schweigenhoffer.
The Resistance aspects of the film are to the fore in Lyon, eluding the occupying forces, entrusting the children to the church, out in the countryside guiding British planes dropping parachutes with men and goods. The group, always conscious that they are Jewish and a special target of Nazi hatred, is divided as to how they should resist, by armed force or, as Marcel earnestly persuades them, by getting revenge on the Nazis by saving the children who will live on rather than die.
There is some tension in the final episode in transporting the children, dressed as scouts, to the mountains for their trek, Barbie and his men patrolling the train, Marcel, quick-witted, urging the children to seeing Ave Maria, engaging in conversation about his daughter and the arts with Barbie.
However, the priest under torture indicates where the children have gone and Barbie and his men pursue them into the snow of the Alps.
Marcel Marceau, changing his name on a passport to conceal his Jewish identity, received the Legion of Honour and other awards from the French government.
The story is bracketed by a sequence where general Patton (Ed Harris) addresses the troops at Nuremberg, 1945, telling the story of Marceau – and inviting him to perform in mime for the troops, looking forward to his talented life and career.
The writer-director is from Venezuela, of Jewish- Polish descent.
(It would seem that this is a film of power and sentiment, the kind of sentiment that does not appeal to audiences who would prefer more stoicism than emotion.)
1. The title? The title? Stories from World War II? The French Resistance? Stories that began over 80 years earlier? Memories? The French Jews in the resistance? Heroism, persecution?
2. The Hebrew letter in the title? Nazi anti-Semitism? The footage with Hitler and his speeches to eliminate the Jews from Europe? The background of the concentration camps? Krystallnacht and the attack on the Jews? The Jewish orphans? The stars on the Jews coats?
3. The opening, November 1938, Elsbeth and her parents, her father reassuring her, the immediate attack on the house, her witnessing the death of her parents? Establishing the violent themes of the film?
4. The transition to Nuremberg, 1945, the Hitler arena? General Patton, speech to the troops, the story of Marcel Marceau? The return to Patton at the end of the film? The troops and their response? Welcoming Marcel Marceau onto the stage? His mime?
5. Strasbourg, 1938, Alsace, the French- German border? The scene in the cafe, Marcel and his mime, Charlie Chaplin, the Hitler moustache? The applause? At home, working in the butcher shop, his relationship with his father, his father disapproving of his performance and his ambitions, Alain and his activities, the sequence at home, his father’s chant? Later hearing his father seen in the cafe, the conversation, his father’s ambitions, his own father being a butcher and continuity?
6. The arrival of the orphans, the train on the bridge to Germany, the buses, the group welcoming them? The truck? The timidity of the orphans? Marcel and his miming, playing, enticing the children out of the truck, getting them involved, the breath and their blowing him, his responses? Alain and the others, Emma and Mila, working with the children?
7. The invasion of Poland? The inhabitants of Strasbourg moved to the south? To Limoges? To Lyon? The Vichy government? The train ride, the children getting off the train, Alain and Marcel making the distraction with the bike, getting through the guards, Emma and Mila?
8. Marcel, working with him? The attraction, Emma’s mother wanting the marriage? Emma delighted with Marcel and his mime? But not a love relationship? The contrast with Mila and Alain?
9. Life in Lyon, entrusting the children to the local priest, the Catholic garb and crosses, the choir, singing Ave Maria? The children safe in Lyon – but Nazi intentions to kill Jewish children?
10. The introduction of Klaus Barbie, his later reputation? The scene in the gay club, his entry, the distain for homosexuals, the bashing of the client? Barbie as vicious? Seeing him in Lyon? Watching the lineup of collaborators and their getting money for their information, their exemption badge? Welcoming his wife, the delight in his daughter? Those arrested, in the swimming pool of the hotel, being lined up, the background of the children singing Ave Maria? His shooting them all? The taking of Emma and Mila? The interrogation? His descriptions of torture and death? Lining them up, killing the others? The discussion with Emma? The threats? Bringing in Mila, her suffering? Emma and the exemption badge, wandering back to the group, dazed? Alain and his grief, his relationship with Mila?
11. Marcel, his passport, his name of Mangel, transforming it into Marceau?
12. The decision about the children? Scouts uniforms? Marcel and his relationship with the children, over the months, playing with them, getting their confidence? The discussion about getting them out of France all the group joining the Resistance? The scene in the forest, the plan, the parachutes, soldiers, supplies?
13. The plan to leave, Emma and the effect of the encounter with Barbie? Alain and his coming with them? The scouts’ uniforms? On the train, the man observing – and his later telling Barbie to let them go? Barbie and his men? Marcel getting them to sing Ave Maria? His discussion with Barbie, Barbie talking about singing, the arts, smiling with the prospect for his daughter, Marcel’s speech about letting her be, even forbidding and getting her to rebel? Barbie’s smile? Emma hidden in the toilet, overhearing the discussion, free?
14. Going into the Alps, the snow and the cold, the men working in the forests? The fire?
15. Barbie, the torture of the priest, his wife hearing the torture through the ventilation, asking her husband for the truth? Wanting to trust him?
16. Barbie and the men pursuing, the children climbing the tree, the previous scene in Strasbourg, training them to climb the trees and be hidden? Barbie and his torch, their climbing down, the pursuit and running, the cliff, Marcel urging them to jump? Emma being shot? At the foot of the cliff, their all surviving, except for Emma and the pathos of her death?
17. The man finding them, telling them they are in Switzerland?
18. The final information, the saving of so many Jewish children? Marcel and his awards? Barbie and his fleeing, found in South America, dying in jail?
19. Marcel Marceau and his career as an artist, as a mime?
