Resistance

A really disappointing film. Adding 40/50 minutes of people staring in silence at someone or at something doesn't make a film poetic, gentle and sensitive, it's just a trick to water down the screenplay and save a lot of money for a low-budget film. The screenplay, by the way, is quite ordinary and unconvincing. In fact the action and the dialogues are so rare here, that almost all of them, the essential ones at least, are in the trailer. It's even funny to think that the film is practically the trailer plus silence and some beautiful views of the welsh mountains. This could be easily a 10-15 minutes short film without losing anything of the plot.

When I heard this was a movie about an alternate reality where Britain lost the Second World War and becomes under German control, I thought "GREAT!! Sounds like an fascinating exploration of people suffering under the occupation of an enemy force." The truth is somewhat different though... in fact, my initial reaction couldn't have been less accurate if I'd assumed David Cameron would be a Conservative Prime Minister.

The 'action' focuses on a lonely Welsh valley, after D-day has failed and all the men disappear overnight. A handful of Jerrys appear (The budgeters couldn't afford to hire any more, ya see) and take over the even smaller population (Man, those purse strings must've been tight), and one of them takes a fancy to a local girl who's husband has gone AWOL. His pathetic attempts at courtship takes up the lion's share of the length, while some dogs, a horse and a sheep die in tragic circumstances.

What's that? You wanted MORE? You expected large scale gun battles, the sight of people suffering during Nazi authority, real tension, and God forbid, some genuine wartime atmosphere? None of that here, matey. The Germans here seem like nice chappies, helping out around the farm and treating the residents with respect and curtesy. This might be alright for the fictional characters in the movie, but it kills all interest stone dead.

There are myriads of flashbacks, none of help move the plot forward at all and only serve to confuse the viewer with their irrelevance. I didn't care about any of these people, because the script gave me nothing TO care about. You'd be hard pushed to find anything that lasts for more than 80 minutes where less happens, and considering the Can't-Miss central premise, this is a crime. One day, they'll make a film about this very subject, on a much grander scale.

And, *fingers crossed* it'll be nothing like this. 3/10

A fairly interesting premise, and a story that might have been far more interesting if I didn't find myself having to switch on my superpower sense of hearing to make sense of the irritating mumbling between the characters.

Of course, no sooner had I upped the volume the music started playing - an eardrum-throbbing violin.

The net result was that I found myself spending more time playing with the volume buttons on the remote control than I did watching the film - a shame as it was on the whole pretty atmospheric.

I couldn't see the point of the Michael Sheen character, but the German Hauptmann was quietly convincing - if perhaps a little too quiet when he was not speaking German.

Even in the most English parts of Wales you can't understand them for their welsh lint and singalong voices. Also, the story was lacking any bite. And the plot holes are too many.

Resistance is a war movie like no other I have seen. It is probably more accurate to describe it as a film about humanity found in war. This probably marks it out as an anti-war movie if anything and is clearly not to everyone's taste. It is, however, to mine, and I have found myself thinking about the film for many days after seeing it.

It is a film which stays with you. It is also a film that perhaps expects rather a lot from the audience, for which I and my wife were incredibly grateful, as this is increasingly uncommon.

I would recommend you to see this film if you like ideas, beauty and no easy answers. The performances are uniformly stunning and the photography, breathtaking. Don't see it if you expect to be told what to think. This is a film about difficult questions in extreme circumstances and as such demands commitment.