SEARCH
NR | 2h 40m | War | 2026
He was prickly, quarrelsome, pushy, and deeply principled. Not surprisingly, he was also extremely French. Arguably, Charles de Gaulle was the most transformative French leader since Napoleon Bonaparte.
Most Americans will know his name, largely thanks to the Paris airport that honors him. But many could learn a great deal about de Gaulle’s wartime strategy and tactics from filmmaker Antonin Baudry’s two-film biography. The first film, “De Gaulle: Résistance,” chronicles the future French president’s rise from obscurity and his pivotal early military successes.
De Gaulle served as the unlikely leader of the Free French Forces and the French underground Resistance, essentially because no other exiled officer with a more suitable pedigree could match de Gaulle’s fighting spirit.
When the film begins during Germany’s rout of the French army, de Gaulle (Simon Abkarian) is one of the few commanders capable of directing any effective counterattacks. Refusing to accept the French government’s capitulation, de Gaulle seeks refuge in England.
Initially, Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Simon Russell Beale) recruits de Gaulle for a one-time propaganda broadcast. Nevertheless, the general quickly builds himself a regular radio platform to address both his countrymen and his allies.
Rallying His People
Much to Churchill’s surprise, de Gaulle shows unexpected military ambition, recruiting soldiers. He sends them to serve in Africa with the Free French Forces under the command of Gen. Pierre Koenig (Benoît Magimel). He dispatches Jean Moulin (Félix Kysyl) to coordinate the scrappy but disorganized Resistance groups in occupied France.
As a recently promoted general with little notoriety, de Gaulle’s status as the legitimate Free French leader is controversial. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Campbell Scott) is especially skeptical of his merits. However, de Gaulle receives critical early support from Churchill and expatriate French politician René Pleven (Loïc Corbery).
Right from the start, de Gaulle’s defiant broadcasts inspire Resistance activists like Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle (Florian Lesieur), who eventually plays a fateful role in de Gaulle’s story.
De Gaulle only gains credibility with the Allied command when he starts peeling French African colonies away from the collaborationist French government based in Vichy. Ironically, as president, de Gaulle would largely end France’s status as an imperial power. However, his wartime strategy heavily relied on France’s colonial ties.
The Battle of Bir Hakeim, which is largely considered the Free French Forces’ finest hour, fittingly inspires the film’s greatest sequences. Koenig’s 3,000 Free French soldiers were badly outnumbered by the advancing Germans but tenaciously defended their remote outpost in the Libyan Desert. This bought time for the reeling British army to retreat and regroup.
Baudry does the battle full justice. He staged numerous scenes of brutally intense but highly cinematic armored infantry combat.
Opposing Character
Throughout the film, Baudry positions Adm. François Darlan (Mathieu Kassovitz) as de Gaulle’s polar opposite. While de Gaulle acts rashly but out of deeply held conviction, Darlan is overly cautious yet unprincipled.
Nevertheless, Darlan still controls the formidable French fleet, which survived France’s defeat relatively intact. This means that Churchill and Roosevelt definitely worry about Darlan’s intentions for all the war vessels he controls. Darlan receives the film’s harshest treatment for his vacillation and opportunism.
On the other hand, Baudry and his coscreenwriter, Bérénice Vila, depict Churchill as a decisive and incisive leader, using Julian T. Jackson’s de Gaulle biography as a road map. Churchill makes extraordinarily difficult decisions, some of which might still trouble French audiences.
Churchill and de Gaulle clash repeatedly, but the British prime minister’s commitment to defeating Hitler is never questioned. In contrast, Roosevelt comes across as a fickle politician rather than a commanding leader or a reliable ally.
Faults and Virtues
Abkarian’s performance as de Gaulle is sometimes rather cold. But he evenhandedly renders the general’s faults, including his arrogance and pettiness, as well as his virtues, his abiding patriotism, and shrewd strategic mind.
Magimel’s portrayal of resourceful Gen. Koenig is quietly but charismatically gritty and steely. Likewise, Beale nicely captures Churchill’s wit and forcefulness while humanizing the truly larger-than-life leader, despite lacking the prime minister’s stout stature.
For those unfamiliar with Bonnier’s destiny, the amount of early screen time devoted to him might initially seem questionable. Nevertheless, it makes sense once Baudry reveals how the French fugitive changed history.
Lesieur clearly conveys how Bonnier eventually exploded with violence. He carries a simmering anger and resentment over the occupation of Paris, as he’s separated from Livia (Anamaria Vartolomei), the Resistance activist he fell in love with, and is resentfully exiled in Algeria.
There’s a lot of intriguing military and political history to chew on throughout the first film of Baudry’s duology. Yet the blood and the sand of the tactile Bir Hakeim sequences are truly visceral, illuminating the grinding brutality of desert warfare.
While intended as a celebration of de Gaulle, the “great man,” Baudry’s film works best as a tribute to the courageous Free French soldiers under his command. Recommended for Francophiles and fans of WWII cinema.
“De Gaulle: Résistance” is available on-demand.
‘De Gaulle: Résistance’
Director: Antonin Baudry
Starring: Simon Abkarian, Simon Russell Beale, Benoît Magimel, Campbell Scott, Mathieu Kassovitz
Not Rated
Running Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Release Date: Nov. 6, 2026
Rated: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to features@epochtimes.nyc.
