During
WWII, underground partisans had to keep their mouths shut to be effective, so
yes Marcel Marceau was good at it. He already had ambitions to perform on
stage, but his underdog humanist empathy compelled him to help guide refugee
children to neutral Switzerland. The real-life Marceau’s filmography is a bit
spotty (a small part in Barbarella, the only speaking role in Mel Brooks’
Silent Movie), but Jesse Eisenberg does a nice job portraying him in
Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Resistance, which releases today on VOD (it would
have opened in theaters too, but you know.)
Clearly,
Marceau must be talented, because Gen. George S. Patton serves as his opening
act in the flashforward prologue. When the proper narrative starts, Marcel
Magnel is still working in his observant Jewish father’s Strasbourg butcher
shop, but by night he performs Chaplinesque routines for unappreciative night
club audiences. His father does not think very much of his performance art
either. However, when Magnel agrees to help welcome a busload of newly arrived
Jewish orphans to their new chateau sanctuary, he suddenly finds an
appreciative audience for is gentle pantomime.
A
bond quickly forms between Magnel/Marceau and the kids, which finally impresses
his longtime crush, Emma. The local relief organization also starts noticing
the supposedly irresponsible Marcel is around much more often than his self-proclaimed
activist brother Sigmund. However, as the war starts to turn against free
France, all three take leading roles teaching the children survival skills and
then join the Resistance together—at the worst possible time. Yet, instead of
seeking vengeance, Marceau (the name on his forged papers) prefers to embrace
life, by saving as many of the refugee children as he can.
Although
Eisenberg performs plenty of bits associated with Marceau and Chaplin, the film
never wallows in the sad clown schmaltz of Life is Beautiful or the twee
preciousness of Jojo Rabbit. Nobody needs to tell these kids about war
or death. They understand just as well as the adults. It also helps that Eisenberg
achieves a nice balance for Magnel/Marceau, depicting his artistic sensitivity just
as well as his gutsy resolve.
Ed
Harris only appears briefly, but he leaves us wanting to see a longer, fuller portrayal
of Patton from him. Karl Markovics (star of The Counterfeiters) is
terrific as Magnel’s father, while young Bella Ramsey shows tremendous range as
Elsbeth, the primary POV orphan. Matthias Schweighofer plays SS commander Klaus
Barbie with the sort of fierce viciousness the part requires but few films have
the commitment to portray, but Clemence Poesey seems miscast as the tragic Emma.
Jakubowicz
keeps the scope relatively narrow, so you really can’t describe the film as an epic.
However, he never sugar-coats the nature of war, making it clear any character
could die at any time (obviously except Marceau, since we know what he would accomplish
in peace time). It is a very good, engaging film that is arguably under-hyped.
Recommended for general audiences, Resistance releases today on VOD.
