Killing Nazis Is So Hot Right Now
Nazis have been movie villains since the 1940s but the recent resurgence in German National Socialist antagonists is mainly based on Nazis being an easy and not-so-subtle stand-in for the political opponents of mainstream Hollywood.
The math is simple as it is stupid:
- Detaining alien foreign nationals = racism
- racism = Nazi
- Detaining alien foreign nationals = Nazi
- ICE detention facilities = concentration camps
How Fresh Is This Killin’ Nazis Take?
Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz and starring Jesse Eisenberg comes Resistance:
Before he was the world-famous mime Marcel Marceau, he was Marcel Mangel, an aspiring Jewish actor who joined the French Resistance to save the lives of thousands of children orphaned at the hands of the Nazis.
As a young man growing up in Nazi-occupied Europe, Marcel has no intention of getting involved in the war – his pursuits include impersonating Charlie Chaplin in burlesque clubs, painting backdrops for his plays, and antagonizing his obstinate father.
His life is thrown into upheaval when he is recruited into the French Resistance, putting his acting skills to the ultimate test in teaching orphaned Jewish children how to survive in the horrifying reality of the Holocaust.
Here’s a clip of this mime punching the German occupying forces:
Admirable But Mistaken
Unfortunately, that mime just got fifty French Jews shot.
There is a lot of good stories around the European Resistance during World War II — the books Rather Die Fighting and Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die come to mind — but I’m not sure this is one of them.
Hell, there are probably three of four movies about this subject with “Resistance” in their titles that would be more engaging this one.
Our good friend Armond White certainly thinks so.
Here is the full trailer if you are unconvinced:
Resistance is playing on VOD right now! Please support it so Eisenberg stays on VOD and off our movie screens.
