‘Resistance’ Review: The Untold Story of Marcel Marceau’s Wartime Heroism

Long before Marcel Marceau became the world’s most famous mime, he was a 15-year-old Jewish boy named Marcel Mangel trying to survive the rise of Nazi Germany. Resistance revisits the largely unfamiliar wartime chapter of his life, portraying his efforts to help rescue Jewish children from the Holocaust before he ever stepped onto a professional stage.

Marceau died in 2007 after a celebrated career as a performer. But the events depicted in Resistance took place in 1938 and 1939, when he was still a teenager and had yet to adopt the name that would make him internationally famous.

Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz, whose previous film was Secuestro Express, the historical thriller draws on research and firsthand interviews with Marceau’s cousin, Georges Loinger, a leader of the Jewish Boy Scouts. The film centers on Marceau’s role in helping save hundreds of orphaned children from the Holocaust.

It is a remarkable story on its own, even without the knowledge that its young protagonist would eventually become a legendary performer.

Before Marcel Marceau Became a Mime

At the beginning of Resistance, Marcel insists that he is “not good with children.” His actions quickly prove otherwise.

Although awkward and uncertain in everyday situations, Marcel discovers that his ability to entertain and improvise can help frightened children feel safer. The skills he initially develops as an aspiring performer suddenly become useful in circumstances far more serious than a cabaret stage.

Raised by his Jewish father, a butcher, Marcel is expected to continue the family business. Instead, he spends his spare time painting and practicing his Chaplin-inspired routines at a local cabaret.

The film was largely shot in the Czech Republic while depicting occupied France, where ordinary people could betray their neighbors in exchange for small privileges. Marcel’s older brother, Alain, played by Felix Moati, is involved with the French Resistance.

Marcel himself becomes part of a much larger effort to protect Jewish children.

A Mission to Save Jewish Orphans

Under the cover of organizing a scouting camp for Jewish children, Marcel’s cousin Georges, played by Géza Röhrig, works with the Save the Children Foundation to divert Jewish orphans away from concentration camps and bring them to a castle.

That is where Marcel becomes involved.

Jesse Eisenberg portrays him as physically awkward in ordinary situations but surprisingly intuitive and graceful whenever he performs. He quickly recognizes that his ability to entertain children can serve a far more important purpose: helping them remain calm in an environment filled with fear and uncertainty.

The film repeatedly returns to the idea that laughter can provide a brief escape from unimaginable circumstances.

At one point, Marcel explains his reasoning simply: “I think it’s important to help the children laugh in the middle of this war.”

That philosophy becomes particularly important as the danger surrounding the children grows.

Facing Klaus Barbie

One of the film’s most tense sequences comes when Marcel accompanies a group of children by train toward the border and encounters notorious SS officer Klaus Barbie, played by Matthias Schweighöfer.

Barbie mistakes Marcel’s pasted-on Chaplin mustache for an attempt to mock Adolf Hitler, creating an encounter in which the young performer must rely on his instincts to avoid drawing further suspicion.

Elsewhere, Resistance gives Marcel’s emerging performance abilities a more dramatic role, including an elaborate attempt to free Georges from Nazi custody in a crowded town square.

The sequence takes considerable creative license and can feel implausible, particularly because it asks viewers to accept that a budding mime could use his specialized talents in such extraordinary circumstances.

Where the Film Takes Creative Liberties

The central story of Resistance is compelling, but the film sometimes struggles to decide how much of Marcel’s future identity should shape the wartime narrative.

Because Marceau would later become such a famous mime, his artistic development is naturally an important part of the story. Yet the film’s attempts to incorporate his performance skills into the action can occasionally feel forced.

A romantic subplot involving Marcel and fellow Resistance fighter Emma, played by Clémence Poesy, creates a similar problem. Emma is portrayed as particularly courageous, sometimes appearing braver than Marcel himself.

One scene in which Marcel performs a silent routine exclusively for Emma, ending by producing a paper flower for her, feels disconnected from the otherwise serious tone of the story.

The film does not necessarily need the romance to make its protagonist compelling. Marcel’s wartime actions already provide a powerful reason to care about him.

Jesse Eisenberg’s Transformation

Eisenberg bears a striking physical resemblance to Marceau and clearly devoted significant effort to learning the performer’s movements and basic routines.

His portrayal emphasizes Marcel’s uncertainty and awkwardness away from performance, contrasting it with the confidence and physical control he displays while entertaining the children.

Yet the mime routines sometimes appear less natural within the surrounding action than they might have on stage. The result is that Marcel occasionally resembles a character whose unusual ability must be deliberately worked into the plot rather than something that naturally drives the story.

The film also uses a framing device featuring Ed Harris as Gen. George S. Patton, who tells his troops about Marceau before eventually inviting him onstage for his first public performance.

With the wartime story already carrying considerable emotional weight, that framing device can feel unnecessary.

Angelo Milli’s string score, meanwhile, gives the film additional gravity and helps reinforce the seriousness of Marcel’s experiences.

A Darker Side of the Story

For all its moments of hope, Resistance is ultimately a grim film.

Its subject is the rescue of children, but the story also depicts the brutality of Nazi occupation, including violence and torture. As a result, this is not a film aimed at young audiences despite the central role played by children.

One particularly disturbing sequence occurs after Barbie realizes that his soldiers have been outmaneuvered by a mime. He gathers several clowns in full costume, lines them up at a public swimming pool and executes them.

Whether that specific scene was based on historical events or shaped by the filmmakers, its purpose is unmistakable: to confront the darkness surrounding Marceau’s wartime experience.

And that darkness ultimately gives the film’s title a deeper meaning.

The Meaning of “Resistance”

The most powerful element of Resistance is not necessarily the transformation of Marcel into the world-famous mime audiences would eventually know. It is the question of what happens to a person after witnessing extreme cruelty and still choosing to create moments of happiness for others.

Marceau’s wartime experiences could have defined him through trauma. Instead, the film presents his ability to recover, perform and bring joy to other people as one of the most remarkable aspects of his story.

That makes his later fame almost secondary.

Resistance works best when it focuses on the young Marcel Mangel rather than the legendary Marcel Marceau. His story is compelling not simply because he would one day become famous, but because, during one of Europe’s darkest periods, he found a way to use laughter, performance and courage to help children endure the unimaginable.