The Children of the Resistance

Occupied France, three children, and a war effort conducted with chalk, bicycles and nerve. François, Eusèbe and Lisa pass hidden messages, sabotage what they can and slip away from adults who would never suspect them, and the film frames their clandestine work as an adventure without pretending the danger is imaginary. Daring and friendship are the only weapons on hand, which gives the story both its charm and its considerable tension.

It is pitched at family audiences and younger viewers ready for real history, and at adults who appreciate wartime stories told from below eye level. The hour and forty keeps a brisk, episodic rhythm, a mission and a close call and a regroup, with enough peril to matter and enough warmth to reassure. Anyone looking for a way into the period with children in the room, or simply fond of plucky underdog resistance tales, will find this a sturdy, stirring choice.