(2003, 92 min) The eye soars over idyllic, gently rolling hills of pastoral calm, until it suddenly comes upon the charred remains of a plane; a lone man crawls away from the wreckage. It's January 16th, 1944, in Nazi-occupied Belgium. The plane was flying reconnaissance for the upcoming Allied invasion. The Germans have experts coming from Berlin to examine the plane's recorder, which may still hold the position of targets and navigation codes.
The local Resistance conceals and cares for Ted Brice (Bill Paxton), the sole survivor of the crash. They decide as a group not to risk exposure by recovering the plane's recorder, determining that it must have been destroyed. But one night someone kills the soldiers guarding the plane and takes away the reconnaissance information before it is retrieved by the Nazis. Eleven villagers are hanged in reprisal. While the townsfolk suspect the American, they are not sure.
Ted, increasingly restless in his confinement, becomes enchanted with Claire (Julia Ormond), the woman who risks her life to nurse him. Her husband is absent, on a mission for the Resistance; while their marriage was affectionate, there was no shared love. Ted and Claire come to form a family unit with a young boy who is estranged from his brutal collaborator father and his weak, compliant mother. They share a brief period of domesticity before the war reasserts itself with unrelenting, deadly effect.
Resistance delineates the small, human moments which underlie history’s grand events. Perceptive, subtle performances describe the emotional complications that inform all human endeavors. While not a great film, Resistance is a thoughtful meditation on the unceasing desire for connection and the unexpected capacity for sacrifice contained in any human heart.
© TLA Entertainment Group
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