Resistance Fighters

Real world resistance fighters have
not only made an impact on the world politically, they’ve also been the
inspiration for some cracking films. May sees another excellent title released
to add to that list – Outside The Law, a tense tale of the Algerian resistance to the French
occupancy in the years following the Second World War. We mark the occasion by
looking down the best on-screen resistance fighters, from the painfully
researched biopics to the wilfully inaccurate action romps…

1. Defiance

After the brutal death
of their parents under Nazi orders, four brothers, under the leadership of Daniel
Craig, escape and lead a group of Jews through Nazi occupied Poland during
World War II. Based on a true story, the Bielski partisans join resistance
fighters and attempt to build a village to protect themselves from the
occupying forces, saving hundreds of lives in the process.

2. Charlotte
Grey

Based on the novel by
Sebastian Faulks and starring Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Gray, a young Scottish
woman, joins the French resistance during World War II, hoping to discover the
fate of her lover who has been lost in occupied France. The film is anchored by typically
stirring performance from the always-brilliant Blanchet.

3. Inglourious
Basterds

Directed by Quentin
Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and Eli Roth, a group of
Jewish-American soldiers, known as ‘The Basterds’, rampage through
Nazi-occupied France during World War II, tasked with spreading fear throughout
the Third Reich. Not the most
realistic portrayal of the war, admittedly, but a cracking adventure none the
less.

4. Braveheart

After losing both his
father and wife at the hands of the English, legendary Scottish rebel William
Wallace leads an uprising against the oppressive English in a quest to make
Scotland free once and for all. An iconic role for Mel Gibson and a film that
has stood the test of time, despite Gibson’s subsequent misgivings.

5. Last of
the Mohicans

Michael Mann’s period
epic tells the tale of a budding
romance between a British officer’s daughter and an independent man, played by
Daniel Day Lewis, who was reared as a Mohican complicates things, as he pursues
his own agenda despite the wrath of different people on both sides of the
conflict. Based on James Fenimore Cooper’s classic novel.

6. Joan Of
Arc

French action auteur cast his then wife
Milla Jovovich as French national heroine and Catholic Saint Joan of Arc, who
took on the English invaders after hearing the word of god. Some have
questioned the film’s historical accuracy; it’s a blistering, breathtaking
period romp none the less.

7. Outside The Law

An epic, explosive
historical thriller, acclaimed director Rachid Bouchareb new film is set
amongst the Algerian resistance fighting against French occupancy in the
aftermath of the Second World War. The film caused controversy in France,
opening raw wounds, but Bouchareb’s intelligent portrayal doesn’t trivialise
the issue at all and it eventually nominated for the Best Foreign Language
Oscar.

Outside The Law is in
cinemas 6 May 2011