Resistance (2020 film)
Plot
The film opens in Munich, Nazi Germany. It is 1938 and Nazi Brown Shirts invade the home of a young Jewish girl, Elsbeth (played by Bella Ramsey), and kill her parents.
The film continues in Strasbourg, France (near the German border), where Marcel Marceau (Jesse Eisenberg) works unfulfilled in his father's butcher, disconnected from Nazi atrocities and eager for the arts, especially mime and painting. During 1939, as Nazi power consolidates and World War II approaches, Marceau performs a cabaret impression of Charlie Chaplin, using the narrow mustache also favored by Adolf Hitler. Visual similarities between Chaplin and Hitler frequent the film. Marceau's passion for theatre strengthens further after discovering his father secretly performs opera.
While Marcel's cousin, Georges (Géza Röhrig), involves himself with a Jewish arm of the French Resistance, Marcel and Emma (Clémence Poésy) fall in love. Marcel's father, who had fled Poland years earlier, supports his son and Emma joining the anti-Nazi resistance. It is a decision that defines Marceau's wartime experiences and brings tragic consequences for Marceau's father: arrested in 1944 he dies in Auschwitz during 1945.
A Scout troop which Emma and Georges's lead rescues 123 Jewish children whose parents were killed by Nazis. Marceau's mime skills improve as he helps entertain the orphans in a nearby castle. Bonds with Emma also strengthen. After Germany invades Poland in autumn 1939 their involvement deepens with the French Resistance. Adults distribute the Jewish children into smaller groups to minimize their visibility, some to local churches and others to Jewish families. Marcel and Emma maintain contact with Elsbeth.
After 1941 Marceau's story intertwines with the menacing Klaus Barbie (Matthias Schweighöfer), who is seen beating to death a Nazi homosexual in Berlin. Barbie portrays the murder as Aryan purification. Barbie arrives in Lyon in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of southern France. His aim is eliminating the French resistance. Barbie operates by bribing collaborators and brutal executions in an empty swimming pool at Gestapo Headquarters. Later, Barbie gains notoriety as "The Butcher of Lyon".
Marcel and Emma also move to Lyon, with Georges, who narrowly evades capture during a Nazi sweep of Lyon's train station. Marcel helps Georges escape by burning a German soldier. Emma and Mila, her sister, are less fortunate. Captured during another Gestapo roundup, Barbie tortures Mila to death while extracting information from Emma about the resistance. Emma survives by collaboration but later attempts suicide-by-train. Marceau saves her and they resolve to help Jewish children escape to Switzerland.
Pretending their Scout troop is hiking, Marcel and Emma, accompanied by Georges plus a dozen children including Elsbeth, travel by SNCF train to the French Alps. Barbie and SS troops patrol the last train station before the Franco-Swiss border, forcing the petrified Emma into hiding as they search the train. Barbie fails to discover Emma or the children's true ambition to reach Switzerland. Marcel and Emma continue their journey towards Switzerland with the children.
Barbie's SS meanwhile learns from a tortured priest the children are escaping Jews. Barbie, angry at his mistake, mobilizes SS troops to pursue Marceau and the children into the icy forests of the Swiss border. Barbie gets close enough to discharge his handgun, mortally wounding Emma, but cannot prevent their escape. Marcel is devastated at Emma's death but comforted the children to reach Switzerland.
The film closes in 1945 in Nuremberg, Germany. Marceau is now a Liaison Officer with the United States Army, also an actor, entertaining troops of the American occupation of Germany. Introduced by General George S. Patton (Ed Harris), troops learn that Marceau crossed the Alps many times to save hundreds of children, mostly orphans, and indirectly saved thousands of more children. Patton lauds an "incredible story... of one of those unique human beings that makes your sacrifices and your heroism completely worth it." The film closes with an evocative mime by Marceau in his famous white face and blue and white shirt.
Cast
- Jesse Eisenberg as Marcel Marceau, an aspiring mime artist who fought for the French Jewish Resistance
- Kue Lawrence as young Marcel
- Clémence Poésy as Emma
- Félix Moati as Alain
- Vica Kerekes as Mila
- Matthias Schweighöfer as Klaus Barbie, a ruthless Gestapo agent
- Géza Röhrig as Georges Loinger, Marceau's cousin and member of the French Jewish Resistance
- Ed Harris as George S. Patton, US Army general and commander of the 7th Army
- Bella Ramsey as Elsbeth
- Martha Issová as Flora
- Karl Markovics as Charles Mangel
- Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey as Max Rheinemert
- Alex Fondja as Frederique
- Aurélie Bancilhon as Dominique
- Alicia von Rittberg as Regine
- Louise Morell as Marcel's Mother
- Wolfgang Ceczor as Old Man on Train
- Philip Lenkowsky as Father Montluc
- Édgar Ramírez as Sigmund (Elsbeth's Father)
- Klára Issová as Judith (Elsbeth's Mother)
- Dimitri Storoge as Vichy Officer
- Felicity Montagu Mrs. Garner (Emma's Mother)
- Werner Biermeier as Swiss Hunter
- Maxim Boubin as Joseph on the Tree
- Tobias Gareth Elman as Joseph (older)
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