Disturbing yet enthralling

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

***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!

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.

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.

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 !