The review of Resistance – The voice of silence, a biopic on the figure of the mime Marcel Marceau, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Bella Ramsey, tonight in the first TV show on Cielo.
France, 1938. While the country is shaken by the shadow of the conflict, with Hitler’s Germany which seems to be close to encroaching on the other side of the Alps, in Strasbourg the young Marcel Marceau performs as a mime in small clubs, despite the clear opposition from father’s side, a butcher well known in the local Jewish community.
As we tell you in the review of Resistance – The voice of silence, Marcel decides to join the French resistance – where the beautiful Emma also militates, with whom he is in love and reciprocated – and soon finds himself having to take care of a hundred children, orphaned by their parents killed by the Nazis and looking for a place safe where to stay. When France is finally invaded by the enemy, Marcel and his fellow fighters are forced to evacuate south in the company of their little protégés, but the cruel SS officer Klaus Barbie is on their trail and ready to do anything to capture them.
An incredible true story
Marcel Marceau is regarded as the most famous mime ever, known for his extraordinary ability on the stage that made school as well as for being considered as the inventor of the moonwalk, then brought to fame in more recent times by Michael Jackson. What is certain is that first of all Marceau was a war hero, direct and indirect architect of the salvation of thousands of children during the Second World War.
Resistance – The voice of silence tells the story in a film that is perhaps idealized but undoubtedly captivates the viewer, which exploits all the stereotypes of the war-themed genre with considerable energy, between public-ready rhetoric and a fair amount of tension that reaches unexpected peaks in several key scenes, above all when Matthias Schweighöfer’s rabid and ruthless Klaus Barbie takes over, a villain among villains.
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Far from the horror
On the other hand it is the entire cast that shines, with supporting names that will tickle fans of The Last of Us: in fact we find in the role of one of the orphaned girls Bella Ramsey, who played Ellie in the latest HBO-branded television adaptation. But even an intense Cleménce Poesy in the guise of a romantic interest, even in a context as harsh and dramatic as that of the conflict, is no less and does not look bad in the face of the magnetic performance of a Jesse Eisenberg who on several occasions risks eating everything the rest: a gigantic proof in its finesse, with which it pays homage in the best way to the real Marceau. It is often the actors who shine in a decent but ordinary staging, which does not stand out excessively but is still appreciated for the simplicity of intent in the management of locations and extras, with mass sequences limited to the bare minimum. Resistance – The voice of silence it is a film that thrives on jolts, such as in that desperate final flight into the mountains, in an attempt to reach Switzerland, which is never forgotten.
Escape to victory
Fighting not to kill, but to help others survive, with revenge which can be consumed by saving as many people as possible from the Nazi fury. This is Marceau’s credo, which he applies to exhaustion in order to lead the children he has found himself caring for to a safe place. At times the screenplay seems partially vaporous in choosing what to tell and what not in the life of the artist-hero, but on the other hand the limited time period to the key years of the war justified the lack of other ramifications from the outset. In the complexity of history Resistance – The voice of silence perhaps adds little to a trend that has repeatedly investigated the tragedy experienced by the Jews last century, and it may be unspectacular in its almost total absence of classic action sequences, but in its biographical soul and in giving life to human figures exhausted by a world fallen into barbarism, Jonathan Jakubowicz’s film manages to keep the viewer’s attention constant for the two hours of viewing.
Conclusions
The young Marcel Marceau, destined to become the greatest mime ever, protects some little orphans and joins the French Resistance at the crucial stages of the Second World War. As we told you in the review of Resistance – The voice of silence, we are faced with a biopic with a war background that investigates above all the relationships between the characters, taking advantage of a remarkable cast led by a magnificent Jesse Eisenberg, capable of stealing the scene in addition occasions. And despite some ingenuity and forcing in the screenplay phase and a partial lack of originality, the film captivates and convinces thanks to the strength of the true story told here.
Because we like it
- A magnificent Jesse Eisenberg leads a very good and diverse cast.
- A script that gets to the heart of the characters and the story.
What’s wrong
- Overall, the film adds little to what has already been said in dozens of other war-themed films on the Second World War and at times gives in to some naivety.
