Resistance

Having read and enjoyed the novel I decided to rent this movie, but while awaiting delivery I read all the reviews I could find. A very high proportion of these user reviews, both on IMDb and elsewhere, described a film that was totally boring, a complete waste of time, had nothing to do with resistance and was generally pointless.

All I can say in reply to these reviews is that films about war are not necessarily about violence, gunfire and cruelty. Put briefly, this film is a gentle story set in a beautiful Welsh valley, a tale of frightened farmer's wives left mysteriously without their menfolk, a group of German soldiers traumatised by war, an expression of human feeling and resistance to war in many and varied ways. If this doesn't appeal to you, then watch Rambo! If, however, you are a sensitive soul with a belief in human goodness, then watch this film and enjoy it! My only gripe is that I found the dialogue a little hard to follow - and there are no subtitles. Having said that, I accepted this difficulty and found that it didn't really affect my pleasure - the film doesn't rely heavily on dialogue. All-in-all a most enjoyable film and one that I will watch again - it certainly helped to hear the director's commentary on the DVD.

The romance of melancholy is the best way I can describe the tone.

This dreary film would of been fine if I was looking to feel contemplative on the idea of existence as a whole showing how meaningful it is through single life and the glorification of the mundane interaction that such a singular life must undertake. But I was not looking for that. I felt mislead by the description, it would be perfectly fine and enjoyable if this was what I wanted.

That being said the discussion of the humans condition being consistence (and repetitive) regardless of cultural differences is some what over done these days. It is a notion that needs to evolve in its functional use for story telling. Hopefully where it is not longer the core of a story but an assumed trait perhaps. This is only a personal preference though and I acknowledge that not everyone thinks it is an trope that has become unreasonably popular.

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.

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.

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.