The Resistance | Film review - True-life story of World War Two survival

(Image credit: Signature Entertainment)

Hiding in plain sight.

Among the many films about the Holocaust, there are very few that tell the stories of the Jews who managed to survive the war by hiding in plain sight. German director Claus Räfle’s eye-opening documentary-drama The Resistance focuses on four young Jews who led charmed lives in Berlin, keeping out of the hands of the authorities thanks to a mix of sharp wits, naïve pluck, strokes of good fortune and the help of anti-Nazi Germans (another category of people whose existence is usually ignored in accounts of World War Two).

Räfle weaves their stories into a gripping feature-film narrative, interspersing the action with snatches of archive footage and interviews with the survivors in old age. Yes, sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction

Certificate 12A. Runtime 110 mins. Director Claus Räfle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBw9tS5Tz7w

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.