Prince Charles is scheduled to attend a screening of the new film “Resistance” due out in cinemas on 25th November 2011. The Prince will head to Abergavenny in Wales to see the movie, following his return from a tour of Africa.
The British-made film charts a wartime Winter in the Olchon Valley in Wales. The D-Day landings have failed and German forces are moving through the South of the UK, taking control of the towns and villages
The women of the valley wake to find that all of the local men have disappeared, so they assume that they must have joined the resistance. A German patrol soon arrives to set up an observation post in the area, but the soldiers are stuck in the valley when a harsh weather arrives.
The women of the small community carry on farming and cooking but the struggle to survive makes the line between resistance and collaboration difficult to tread.
The director, Amit Gupta, says that he aimed to create “moral ambiguity” which would “allow the audience to empathise not only with the women of the valley but also the German soldiers, who are humanised by the landscape and are reminded of the men they were before – even if we are left in no doubt that the war has fundamentally changed them”.
The story is based upon a novel written by Owen Sheers and is inextricably linked the landscape of Abergavenny, where he grew up. It was here that he heard the true-life story of wartime plans for a resistance army in the valleys. Orders were issued to vicars, farmers and other non-serving men in rural Wales, to organise themselves in the event of a German invasion. The men were given weapons which were cached at farms and villages, which the men were to take to the Black Mountains if German troops arrived.
Producer Richard Homes said of filming in Wales:
“We started shooting in September of 2010. Having been told it would rain every day, Wales contrived to rain only when we were shooting indoors. We lost only about two-and-a-half hours in the five week shoot to weather. We also, with the help of a fabulous and totally committed crew, manage to achieve remarkable things with animals, snow, extras, explosions and landscape. It wasn’t without it’s moments but all-in-all it came together without a major trauma.
“Almost as soon as we left Abergavenny the infamous 2010 snows arrived. Had we started a week later I suspect we’d have been in deep trouble.”
Amanda Faber explained how the team had to audition ponies and sheepdogs for the film as well as source 1940’s farm equipment, which were found in the warehouse of a Mr Sam Evans – a local farmer who had worked as part of government teams that farmed the land during World War II.
The film features performances from the Whitley Bay born Andrea Riseborough and Welsh born Michael Sheen, who flew in from L.A. specially for his two-day’s of performance.
Resistance is out in UK cinemas on 25th November 2011.
Table of Contents
Cast
Andrea Riseborough (Brighton Rock, Made In Dagenham) as Sarah Lewis
Tom Wlaschiha (Enemy At The Gates, Valkyrie, Brideshead Revisited) as Albrecht
Michael Sheen as Tommy Atkins (Frost/Nixon, The Damned United)
Alexander Doetsch as Steiner
Stanislav Ianevski as Bernhardt
George Taylor as Gernot
Anatole Taubman as Sebald
Nia Gwynne as Sian
Sharon Morgan as Maggie
Kimberley Nixon as Bethan
Mossie Smith as Ruth
Tomos Eames as Tom Lewis
Iwan Rheon as George
Matt Hooking as German Soldier
Jassa Ahluwalia as Russian Partisan (voice)
Melanie Walters
Simon Armstrong
Production
Producers: Richard Holmes & Amanda Faber
Executive Producer: Richard J. Staniforth
Co-Executive Producers: Keith Potter & Al Munteanu
Co-Producers: Isabelle Georgeaux, Tina Alexandrou, Clive Cowdery & Charles Peel
Associate Producers: Peter Dunne & Owen Sheers
Line Producer: Meinir Stoutt
