Resistance (2003) User Reviews

Fluffy

[hugonut · 5/10 · 12 June 2007]

The film was very basic. One thing that really bugged me was how, in a time of war, Bill Paxton's character acted like he was at a country club, having absolutely no idea that his actions just might effect the people that were helping him. With his total disregard for his caretaker's marital status to his "I want to be in public" stance...it just got absurd. I started to wonder what point the movie was trying to make: a). the struggle and sacrifice of the Resistance b). the invasion of the Americans-stealing the Belgian brides. Why is it that a movie like this can't figure out what lines should be spoken in French and what should be in English. The main character floated around in both in a seemingly roll the dice approach. Sometimes she spoke to the American in English, other times in French.

The production value was high and the acting was pretty good otherwise.

Nice Romance in an Unrealistic Environment

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 12 October 2010]

On 16 January 1944, a reconnaissance American pilot survives a plane crash in Delahaut in the Nazi occupied Belgium. The boy Jean Benoit (Antoine Van Lierde) finds the wounded pilot and brings him to the house of Claire (Julia Ormond) and Henri Daussois (Philippe Volter) that belong to the Maquis Resistance. Sooner the Major Theodore 'Ted' Brice (Bill Paxton) is recovered and tells that he needs to retrieve a book of codes, but the airplane is guarded by the Nazis. Meanwhile Ted and Claire fall in love with each other. When three German guards that are protecting the debris of the airplane are executed, the Nazis select a group of villagers and hang them in a barn. When Henri finds that Ted and Claire are having a love affair, he betrays the pilot with tragic consequences.

"Resistance" is a nice romance with the gorgeous Julia Ormond and Bill Paxton showing a great chemistry but unfortunately in an unrealistic environment. The crush of Ted and Claire is acceptable since her marriage is ended but the situation of the couple dating in France is awfully silly and the betrayal of Henri is ridiculous and incoherent for a member of the resistance. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Amor e Guerra" ("Love and War")

So-So Acting, Incoherent Plot, Lacking Historic Realism.

[jehaccess6 · 4/10 · 11 April 2008]

I bought the DVD to get Julia Ormond. Well, I got that in spades. She was lovely in the romantic scenes; too bad Bill Paxton was flying on autopilot for the whole effort. I almost lost my lunch when he popped his big fat white behind out of his flight suit to shall we say 'engage' with Julia.

I realized Julia was very proficient in French while watching her in 'Sabrina'. I watched 'Sabrina' with the French soundtrack to see if Julia dubbed her own dialog. They used someone else. In any case, Julia was chosen for this Dutch film over a native French speaker with sufficient English to communicate with the American flier. Perhaps they wanted at least one familiar name for the British/American market. To my unfamiliar eye, Julia's features could pass for Belgian.

The whole film had an odd nature. It was a Dutch film about Belgium in World War 2. I would imagine that national pride would have required a theme of heroic Dutch resistance to the German invaders. The Belgians were much more passive during the occupation period than were the French or Norwegians. The most savage fighting of all came in the Balkans where Tito's communist partisans gave the Germans fits.

I noted in another review that 'dbdumonteil' believed Julia Ormond to be an American instead of the actual British nationality. Perhaps Julia's acting skills were great enough to carry off that impression.

After watching this film several times, it suddenly dawned on me how out of season, the film is. It is set on Junuary 16, 1944 when the American plane crashes in Belgian farm country. The trees look to be in mid-Fall with lots of leaves and the weather is warm. People walk about in light clothing and the grass is still green. There is not the smallest trace of snow or ice. This must have been the mildest winter in Belgium ever.

The actual plot of the film was a mess. Where to begin? For anyone interested in World War 2 history, the film came across as farce. The reconnaissance plane used was a huge 4-engine converted bomber. Such aircraft did exist, but they would have required massive fighter escort to have any chance of survival. In reality, smaller and swifter aircraft were readily available and would have been far more suitable for the task. The vital code books in the film would never have been carried on the plane. The crew had no need of this information to complete their mission, while compromise of this information would have been a huge intelligence defeat. Even given the premise of the film, the first items to be stripped from the aircraft would be the code books. They would have been on their way to Berlin within 10 minutes of the arrival of German troops at the crash site.

The Daussois home, where 'Major Brice' took refuge was a farm where no one had the least interest in farming. Food would have been very scarce in Belgium at this time. The Germans would have required substantial quantities of locally-produced food to support their forces. The family truck would have been expropriated long before the arrival of the American flier. There would not have been any fuel available to run it anyway.

The plot twist where Henri Daussois turns in the American out of jealousy is pathetic. He would have had to reveal all he knew about the resistance in order to be allowed to live. He would have had to function as a double agent to frustrate any effective opposition. The woman with the secret radio would have never survived the war.

'Major Brice' was caught in civilian clothing toward the end of the film. That made him a spy under the laws of war and liable for execution with no defense. He would not have meekly surrendered to face interrogation unhindered by the Geneva Convention. Better to force them to kill him and spare his friends if possible.

I have not read the novel upon which this film is based. If this film is a faithful adaption, it shows an abysmal lack of development in the novel. Regardless of the novel, the screenwriters could easily have produced a superior script that would not waste this opportunity to deliver a much better film.

This is not a good movie

[bandw · 3/10 · 3 September 2007]

This story of Ted Brice, an American pilot who is the sole survivor of the crash of an Allied reconnaissance plane in Belgium in January of 1944, is pretty much of a mess. The title would lead you to think that it is principally a story about the Belgian armed resistance groups, but that seems to be just a backdrop to prop up a silly love story between Ted and Claire, the woman who takes Ted in. Claire's husband Henri is a committed resistance member, but it is Claire who decides, in Henri's absence and against his wishes, to give Ted refuge.

Crucial plot details don't make sense. Central to the story is the retrieval of the recorder on the downed plane that contains navigation codes and the positions of targets. But in the opening scene we see Belgians looting the plane, resistance members among them. Why did they not retrieve the valued items at that time instead of waiting for the Nazis to come and guard the plane? And the whole affair of transferring Ted out of the area was conducted using secret instructions and code words when the transaction could have just been a simple exchange. The ponderous music attempts, but fails, to lend some weight to this tepid undertaking.

The most ludicrous part of the movie is how the love affair develops between Ted and Claire. At first Claire is devoted to nursing Ted back from near death and, when Ted starts to recover, they become physically involved (while Henri is conveniently away conducting resistance business). Julie Ormond does a passable job as Claire, but she effects a French accent that I frequently found impossible to understand. Her responses seemed a little weak at times - when informed of the hanging deaths of several town members she reacts as though she had just been told that the local grocery was out of peaches. As Ted, Bill Paxton seems just to be reciting his lines; his performance is so uninspired that it's embarrassing. A true American pilot might evidence such a flat personality, but it does not make for convincing cinema. I did not sense any chemistry between these supposed lovers.

The most idiotic thing is the way that Ted and Claire act like lovers on holiday. Maybe sexual release from such heavy situations is understandable, but to appear totally oblivious of the gravity of the situation is hard to fathom. At first Ted is consigned to an attic room and Claire worries about his even coming into the house. But as things develop he not only comes into the house, he dances with Claire to loud music, enters the adjoining barn to have a game of baseball with a local boy, and ultimately goes on a car trip with Claire to a nearby town.

The young boy seems to be most committed to his role, but he is undermined by the script. He has an uncanny ability to be at crucial events without being noticed. And when he delivers lines like:

"Have you ever seen someone get hanged. They look like the're dancing, but they can't find the floor."

you feel that it is the screenwriter talking and not a thirteen year old boy.

And oh, by the way, there are scenes to show that the Nazis are pretty bad guys.

Comparing this film to the brilliant "Ashes and Diamonds" about the Polish resistance, or the equally stellar "Lacombe, Lucien" about the French resistance, one realizes what a truly dismal affair it is.

"They look like they're dancing, but they can't find the floor"

[charlytully · 7/10 · 10 February 2009]

That is how young Jean Benoit (portrayed by Antoine Van Lierde) describes the victims of a mass retaliation public hanging conducted by the Nazis after his grocery clerk friend Lucette Oomlop (Sandrine Bonnaire) has machined-gunned three German guards at the wreckage of Maj. Ted Brice's (Bill Paxton) B-24 reconnaissance plane late one night to recover a notebook Ted apparently left behind in his eagerness to scope out the local females. (Too bad he did not heed the message of the Andrews Sisters tune playing on the soundtrack, "Straighten up and fly right!") The tag lines for this maudlin war flick are "an act of courage will decide their destinies" and "an epic tale of courage, passion, and sacrifice." As in Ted seduces his married Resistance hostess Claire Daussois (Julia Ormond), and then drives her all over Belgium sampling the local night life instead of hiding in the barn as he's been told, single-handedly breaking up the cell of resisters who are trying to save him and help the Allies prepare for D-Day? After viewing the movie, people will be shaking their heads "uh-huh" and longing for something as "realistic" as Michael Bay's Affleck-Beckinsale-Hartnett 2001 tear-jerker, PEARL HARBOR. How did writer-director Todd Komarnicki pitch this mess to the studio RESISTANCE bankrupted: THE GREAT ESCAPE meets DIRTY DANCING? Three years after this fiasco, Paul Verhoeven's ZWARTBOEK (THE BLACK BOOK) covered much of this same ground with more authenticity, more drama, and better production values all around. Do yourself a favor and rent that; RESISTANCE should be left dancing in the wind.

Only the Belgium link saves this movie for me

[bruges-952-146477 · 2/10 · 13 April 2011]

10 stars for some beautiful shots of the Belgian countryside and also for taking a stab at making a movie with anything to do with Belgium. This was the only reason I wanted to watch the movie anyway. I've seen one review complaining about French accents in Belgium. Belgium is mainly divided into the Dutch and French speaking populations, so it is no surprise to find a community of French-speaking Belgians. I am not impressed with anyone's reviews where they pick apart all of the little historical nuances that were done incorrectly. Really at the heart of what makes this a bad movie is that it is so uninspired. Acting, direction, dialogue, everything. What is the beautiful Julia Ormond doing taking roles like this? Bill Paxton is a likable guy when he is a cocky, buffoon character actor. But he is the last guy in Hollywood who should be doing serious romantic leading roles. You could tell that both stars knew this was not a shining moment in their careers and the love making scene is almost embarrassing to watch. The rest of the cast takes it more seriously and adds some level of saving grace, particular the young Belgian boy. I would have liked this movie much better had the lead parts been no-name actors who were getting an opportunity to star in a very minor film.

The wrong actress.

[dbdumonteil · 24 March 2004]

The biggest flaw of this so-so resistance drama is the choice of an American actress to play the female lead.Julia Ormond is compelled to speak English -I guess she's not dubbed- with a French accent,which is completely absurd;besides,the story takes place in Belgium,where the accent should be different (I 've often heard Belgian people speak).When René Clément made a similar story in 1963 ("le jour et l'heure"),he chose Simone Signoret as the French woman and American Stuart Whitman for the aviator ,which made sense.And whereas Clement's movie had a dramatic progression (Signoret's character was first a woman who did not care about Resistance),this one has none.Now and then ,the German soldiers appear,just for their reprisals,hangings and tortures.There are some Belgian characters involved but their part is so underwritten that even the hubby cannot display his jealousy.Sandrine Bonnaire tries hard ,to no avail.Only Bill Paxton ,in his restrained and sensitive rendering ,shows some convincing emotion.

The film was a flop,and it is sure easy to see why:Resistance has been tackled so many times in France,Europa and elsewhere ,that ,unless you are a genius,you can't make new things out of old.

Man in the attic

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 7 December 2013]

***SPOILERS***Love story at the hight of WWII in Nazi occupied Belgium involving an American airman Maj. Ted Brice, Bill Paxton, who's the only survivor of his reconnaissance plane who's been protected by local woman the pretty Claire Daussois, Julia Ormond, in the attic of her house in the little town of Delahaut. It just happens that Claire's husband Harie, Phillip Volter, is a member of the Belgium resistance the "Maquis" who's been battling the Nazi oppresses for the last four years and during all that time had no time to have the comfort of married life with the beautiful wife Claire. Something that the American airman Ted, suffering from a broken leg, soon had more then he could handle.

As it turned out the crashed US plane had a number of top secret codes in it regarding the top secret planned invasion of Western Europe that the Nazis want to desperately get their grubby hands on. And the only man who can reveal those codes is Maj. Ted Brice who's very existence is at the time unknown to the Nazis. Some complications soon arrive with a member of the resistance gunning down three German solders on the crash site that has the Nazi high command order brutal reprisals, by being shot & hanged, of the local population. This despite having such a good time in the sack as well, in a really hot & steamy scene in the movie, bathtub with Calire has the guilt ridden Ted get on with his mission, in liberating Nazi occupied Western Europe, full blast in him getting in touch with the resistance movement through Claire's husband, who seems to know what's going on between the two, Harie.

***SPOILERS*** As things turn out Harie has other things on his mind other the saving his wife's lovers life but like everything else he does it backfired in his face. As for Ted he's caught trying to get in touch with the resistance by the Nazis and brutally tortured by them to get the secret code about the forthcoming invasion of Western Europe by the allies. It's when Claire is arrested and tortured by the Nazis that Ted breaks down and spills his guts to his Nazi captors in what he knows in order to save her life and prevent any farther Nazi retaliation against the local villagers. In knowing that he's doomed to be executed by the Nazis Ted gives them what they want in who killed the three German solders at the crash site to spear the people of Delahaut any more suffering. That suffering the brave and courageous Maj. Ted Brice took upon himself!

Good Acting Cannot Overcome Bad Script

[VimalaNowlis · 5/10 · 16 November 2012]

I love Julia Ormand and was eager to see this movie on TV. She's as wonderful as ever. Unfortunately, the script was ridiculous.

An American pilot shot down in enemy territory. The villagers doing their best to save his life. Yet he pays no attention to their culture, their system, and their safety. He's only concerned about himself and what he wants. He takes over the house, goes outside, plays baseball, gave his dog tag to a kid, doing his best to expose himself to the Nazi while the villagers die to protect him. Even though he does not speak Frech, he goes out in public and refuses to hide so everyone can see there's a stranger in town. He only thinks about his own happiness, honor and others be damned. Unfortnately, the Germans were not as stupid as the American thought. Of course him and those who tried to help him all got caught.

With friend like this, who needs enemies? Who wrote this stupid script?

Not so bad

[mstynen · 7/10 · 28 May 2013]

This movie is not so bad. There are a few weak points in the plot (the date in another town, the fact the resistance turns him over to the Nazis in the end) but the acting is actually very good. The cinematography and music is also a feast for eyes and ears. It seems like the movie got cut in some scenes though to shorten the length of the movie (it's quite short - 88 minutes now). There's a scene in the trailer where the pilot is beating up a German soldier that was not in the movie, but blink and you'll miss it in the trailer. This is not a movie you will remember for a long time, but there are worse ways to spend 88 minutes. It does not deserve to be the financial flop as this movie turned out to be.

This mostly subtitled movie is poorly done.

[LiveLoveLead · 5/10 · 28 July 2020]

Resistance is very predictable, and this type of movie has been done many times before and much better. It comes across as a low budget B film. The script is so weak that even Paxton (miscast) and Ormond couldn't breath life into these poorly developed characters. The actions of the characters are not believable and the mediocre acting makes it even harder to tolerate the ridiculous dialog and silly choices the characters make. Did I mention plot holes? My husband walked out less than halfway through but I watched this slow paced movie to the end, albeit with a bit of fast-forwarding. With so many better movies out there this is just not worth the time, In My Humble Opinion! July2020

engrossing tale from pre-liberated Belgium

[editfilmr · 9/10 · 22 July 2003]

Best dramatic work by Bill Paxton since "Apollo 13" and " A Simple Plan", and Julia Ormond's ( since her limited role in "Legends of the Fall" ). Engrossing and believable WW II tale . I personally viewed this film at the kick-off of the Stony Brook film festival. GREAT choice by SB's Director Alan Inkles ! This film may appeal more to an older crowd ( with a sense of having lived through earlier wars ), but a packed house with spontaneous gasps , oohs and ahhs tells more of it's involving appeal . The young Belgian actor portraying a disenchanted child of a Nazi collaborator and a shallow mother almost "steals" the movie, as an emotional soundboard of this edgy drama. Well done ... well worth your time !

The Irresistible Miss Ormond

[boblipton · 6/10 · 9 April 2024]

An American surveillance plane crashes in a green Belgian field in January of 1944. Almost all the crew is dead. Young Antoine Van Lierde finds the injured pilot. Although despised by members of the Maquis, he gets Bill Paxton to Philippe Volter and Julia Ormond. Miss Ormond nurses Paxton back to health and they begin a passionate affair, despite her troubled marriage and the threat that Volter will turn them both over to the Germans.

It's an almost stereotypical view of the occupied countries during the Second World War. Even in France, members of the Maquis never numbered more than half a million. It's estimated that in Belgium, the Resistance -- whatever it was called -- comprised one in forty. And, of course, American pilots were irresistible to the local women.

Which is not to say that this is a bad movie. The actors are all good, and the story is, if not particularly original, a solid example of the genre, even if there are some glitches in the production.

Bad plot

[markswanson-91798 · 1/10 · 20 October 2022]

Started out good. Flyer with information gets shot down. After that it goes way off the tracks. Resistance fighters are blowing up tunnels and bridges, town folks getting hung on the flyers account and resistance is trying to find a way to get this poor guy out of the country. So he joins the resistance? No. He rescues the town folks? No. Maybe kills a German? No. He laughs, enjoys stories read to him by a resistance fighters wife. Ends up going to bed with her while the fighter is out fighting a war. He plays ball with his young friend. He dances with his new girlfriend. Then he goes out on a date with her. This guy is CLUELESS! He makes cowards look like heros.