Resistance (2020)

A mime artist Marcel Mangel (Jesse Eisenberg), who would later become known as Marcel Marceau - a name chosen as a reference to the Revolution general Marceau-Desgraviers - founded Compagnie de Mime in Paris and became famous all over the world, and yet his childhood and adolescence were far from trouble-free. He was born in a Jewish family in French Strasbourg twenty-two years before the war and fled with his family when the country was invaded by the Nazis. He lost almost all his family in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was part of the French Jewish Resistance, and as an active member of a secret organization, he helped to save thousands of children and adults from certain death. This biographical historical thriller exudes humanism by showing the act of saving the innocent, but also by highlighting the kindness of the circus art – the film based on Marcel Marceau’s biography ends with an impressive scene of him performing in front of a huge military audience. American artist Jesse Eisenberg’s performance stands out – as it does in most movies he has been part of (other cast members include the French actress Clémence Poésy, who was a part of the Harry Potter films, Hungarian actor Géza Röhrig known for the film Son of Saul, and American actor Ed Harris). Here Eisenberg is at once a self-confident young man, a vulnerable clown, the last hero of the horrific epoch, and even a little bit of a Zuckerberg from Fincher’s The Social Network.