Film

Resistance

Name: Resistance
Genre: War, History, Drama
Released: 2020
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Clémence Poésy, Matthias Schweighöfer, Bella Ramsey, Ed Harris

Drama

A dramatised account of mime Marcel Marceau's wartime work smuggling Jewish orphans to safety through occupied France. It's intimate and earnest rather than sweeping—a story about quiet resistance told through gesture and human connection. For anyone moved by acts of individual courage against systemic evil.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you are drawn to quiet wartime stories built on ingenuity and performance, where a mime's craft becomes a real tool of rescue and resistance under pressure.

Skip it if you want a sweeping, fast-moving war epic; this is a modest two-hour film with a gentle, earnest tone that leans on character warmth more than battlefield momentum.

What it asks of you: It asks for two hours of steady, patient attention, with a measured pace and a sincere emotional register rather than thrills or sharp, cutting edges.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas2008

A child's-eye view of the Holocaust that fractures your heart without resorting to spectacle. Like Resistance, it finds unbearable humanity in impossible circumstances and trusts the audience with silence.

But Some find it emotionally manipulative, and the ending divides people sharply. It can feel calculated in its affect.

The Pianist2002

Adrien Brody's performance anchors a story of Polish Jewish survival that's spare and devastating. Polanski focuses on individual will and the small mercies of strangers—precisely Resistance's register.

But Relentlessly bleak, with scenes of casual brutality that linger. Not a film that offers comfort or catharsis.

Au Revoir les Enfants1987

A French boarding school shelters Jewish children during the Nazi occupation. It's quieter and more personal than most war films, built on genuine affection and the terrible knowledge of what comes next.

But The pacing is slow and introspective. If you want action or clear dramatic arcs, you'll be frustrated.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Resistance

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Last Metro1980

Both locate resistance not in battle but in the stubborn human refusal to surrender creativity, dignity, and connection. Both understand that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is simply be present for the people in your care.

Truffaut's film about a Parisian theatre sheltering a Jewish director in its basement during the occupation. It's a love story, a mystery, and a meditation on art's resistance to tyranny—tense but alive with film itself.

But French cinema of 1980 doesn't move like American narrative. If you want plot propulsion, you'll find it glacial. Also: subtitles.

Defiance2008

Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber as brothers running a Jewish guerrilla unit in the forests of Belarus. It balances resistance as both moral act and brutal necessity—complicated and unflinching.

But The script can be clunky, and it leans toward conventional war-film beats. Some scenes feel more Hollywood than historical.

The Diary of Anne Frank1959

The definitive stage adaptation brought to screen with Millie Perkins in the title role. It's about confinement and hope and the effort of staying human, themes that echo through Resistance.

But Dated aesthetically, and paced for theatre rather than cinema. The brightness of the Technicolor can feel wrong for the subject.

Hairspray1988

John Waters' only mainstream film, a joyful musical about integration and acceptance in 1960s Baltimore. The energy and generosity of spirit match Resistance's faith in human decency.

But It's campy and brash, full of grotesque characters and bad taste. If you want subtlety, this isn't it.

Schindler's List1993

Spielberg's unflinching account of one man's decision to save lives. Essential viewing, morally clear, and as far as historical drama goes, nearly perfect in execution.

But Three and a half hours of unrelenting horror. Some find it almost unbearably dark, and the historical record is debated.

War Horse2011

Spielberg again, this time following a horse and the soldiers around it through the First World War. It's sentimental and traditional, but sincere in its belief that individuals matter in the machinery of war.

But The sentimentality can tip into corn. The narrative is predictable, and some scenes feel engineered for maximum emotional manipulation.

Come and See1985

Where Resistance shows resistance as grace under pressure, Come and See shows what pressure does when there is no resistance possible. Both are unflinching about the cost of history on individual bodies and souls, but this one does not look away.

A Soviet film following a boy conscripted into the Red Army as he discovers the apocalyptic reality of war. Visceral and nightmarish, it's the most honest account of what violence actually does to a human being ever put on film.

But Absolutely punishing. Not emotionally manipulative but genuinely traumatising—images you cannot unsee. Some screenings come with warnings.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Resistance uses mime—movement without speech—to say what words cannot. Singin' in the Rain uses the musical form to express what dialogue would diminish. Both understand that sometimes the truest act of defiance is to insist on beauty and play in the face of everything trying to crush you.

Gene Kelly in Hollywood's masterpiece of joy—a musical about movies themselves, built on the idea that entertainment is not escape but necessary oxygen. Watch it for pure elation, and for the reminder that beauty and laughter are forms of resistance too.

But It's frivolous in a way that might seem wrong alongside Resistance. If you're looking for gravitas, you won't find it here, and that's the entire point.