{"id":20251,"date":"2020-03-25T15:59:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T22:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20251"},"modified":"2020-03-25T15:59:44","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T22:59:44","slug":"resistance-tells-a-fascinating-true-story-but-needs-some-fine-tuning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20251","title":{"rendered":"RESISTANCE Tells a Fascinating True Story, But Needs Some Fine-Tuning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This feature from IFC Films debuts “on demand” on various cable and digital platforms Friday, March 27th.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audiences have been spoiled over the past couple of years\nwhen it has come to standout war movies. Recent productions like 1917<\/em>, Dunkirk<\/em>,\nA Hidden Life<\/em> and Jojo Rabbit<\/em> have raised the bar, offering new,\nunique (and sometimes very personal) perspectives on these battles, as well as pushing\ntechnical boundaries to their limit. The new film Resistance <\/em>offers yet another\nspin on the formula, focusing on the real tale of a figure whom the world would\neventually know under a different name. While the true story is remarkable and sections\nof this film are engaging, the story is delivered in a routine manner and comes\nacross in spots as overly melodramatic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Set at the beginning of WWII, the story follows Marcel (Jesse\nEisenberg), a Jewish immigrant living in France who is focused on his\nperformance art. This comes much to the chagrin of his parents, who find his\nambitions selfish and would prefer that he take up the family business. Marcel\u2019s\neyes are opened to the war effort after being asked by local Boy and Girl\nScouts to help care for orphaned Jewish children. Entertaining and calming the\nkids with his performances, Marcel develops a fondness for the youths and also\nbefriends the troupe leaders, including Emma (Cl\u00e9mence Po\u00e9sy) and her sister,\nMila (Vica Kerekes). When the Nazis occupy France, the group must determine\nwhat to do with the kids and decide if they will join the French Resistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One can understand how the filmmakers may have wanted to go\ninto great detail in establishing Marcel and telling his story as accurately as\npossible. But there\u2019s a lot of material to filter. Early on, we witness the\nprotagonist confronting and coming to terms with his family over his artistic proclivities,\nand also see romance slowly bloom between he and Emma. Viewers also spend time\nwith Gestapo leader Klaus Barbie (Matthias Schweigh\u00f6fer), with whom Marcel and\nthe others keep coming into contact with. The leads also take time getting to\nknow the French Resistance and deciding if they can actually fight on the front\nlines with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While a few of these elements are important, several could\nhave been trimmed. In the end, the numerous threads and subplots bog down the\nrunning time. The movie also makes the strange decision to use General George\nS. Patton (Ed Harris) at the opening and close. He walks out before US troops\nto give a speech at the beginning and end of the film about the heroism of\nMarcel and the others\u2026 it\u2019s an entirely unnecessary and extraneous bit. Still,\none positive is that at least the picture looks good and the locations are\nimpressive even when the plot itself drags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it\u2019s only in the final third that these characters\nfind their true calling and the tension truly builds. Essentially, Marcel and\nthe others resolve how they can best fight back and introduce a desperate, dangerous\nplan. It\u2019s here where things come into focus and the film hits its stride. In\nfact, the journey leads to a taut and stressful climax as the characters\nstruggle to sneak past Nazi checkpoints and trudge through the French Alps with\nsoldiers hot on their tail. One wishes that the movie had focused primarily on\nthis facet of the lead\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cast are all fine and do their absolute best. There are\nsome chilling exchanges between Barbie and Marcel, but at times the screenplay resorts\nto using tropes. There\u2019s even a moment where, after suffering a great loss, one\nof the young stowaway children gives the depressed resistance members an\nuplifting monologue about moving forward and fighting on. The youngster does\nquite well with the eye-rolling lines, but regardless, it is laid on a little\nthick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Resistance<\/em> isn\u2019t a bad movie and there are some\nindividual sequences here and there that make a strong impression. Still, it\u2019s\nunfortunate that such an incredible true story hasn\u2019t been properly distilled\nand doesn\u2019t quite come together to make a bigger emotional impact. The artist\nfeatured in this biopic may be one of the greatest in his field, but this\nadaptation of his story is only moderately successful.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from IFC Films debuts “on demand” on various cable and digital platforms Friday, March 27th. Audiences have been spoiled over the past couple of years when it has come to standout war movies. Recent productions like 1917, Dunkirk, A Hidden Life and Jojo Rabbit have raised the bar, offering new, unique (and sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,2789,4504,4542,6251,6680,7798,10633,13453,13992,14624,14626,15810,16897,16898,16899,16900,23746,24534],"class_list":["post-20251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-biopic","tag-clemence-poesy","tag-clown","tag-drama","tag-ed-harris","tag-france","tag-jesse-eisenberg","tag-matthias-schweighofer","tag-mime","tag-nazi","tag-nazi-occupation","tag-patton","tag-resistance","tag-resistance-film-review","tag-resistance-movie-review","tag-resistance-review","tag-vica-kerekes","tag-wwii"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}