One Against the Wind (1991)

Too much of everything

Excellent but underrated film

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

"One Against the Wind" is an American production filmed in Luxembourg that takes place in France, stars an Australian and a New Zealander playing British citizens, and is acted almost totally in English. So, as you might imagine, authenticity is not a major strong point here. The editing also isn't quite up to standard. Scenes often move quickly from one to another, possibly to fit within a forced running time for airing. If time was such a concern, it might have been preferable to remove some scenes altogether to get a little more more breathing room. But, in spite of merely adequate TV movie standards and unimpressive direction, the script and the actors help to make it quite a good film.Judy Davis is the real meat and guts that holds it all together. She creates a driven, tough and gritty character. It's a welcome change from all her late-career neurotic personalities, which frankly aren't very interesting. She is wholly convincing, as always, but this time as someone you can really connect with, identify with. I'm not disappointed I watched this.

Judy Davis carries this entire movie with one of her many insatiable, unforgettable performances, portraying a real-life WWII resistance heroine, Mary Linden, an English Countess who worked for the French Red Cross in Occupied France and helped allies who had been shot down to escape to unoccupied territory. Her actions are made increasingly difficult because of her high profile and her daughter's tryst with a German officer. That complication is what makes her story so universally relevant and sincere. She is unapologetic, impetuous, and completely uncomplicated, so much so that she would never think of hiding those parts of herself.The way she physically expresses herself is almost masculine, the way she gestures and leans. From the cream of the world's prehistoric dissolution appears this woman's concrete natural liveliness. Selfhood is principal and Judy Davis's portrayal of this character is most involved with its concentration. She is a realist, barely considering sentiment or religious or unworldly matters, which, like all else in her bare-bones view of life, are merely concerns of expediency. She simply is who she is:Look at the early scene when she sees the English Major played by Sam Neill, wounded and wandering in a Paris under enemy control, she does not pause for a second to endanger her life to protect him from suspicious Germans. Thus is the start of her aid to the British and American soldiers in France.The way Davis plays this woman is beyond what words can approximate. She is magnetic, relatable, funny, touching and sexy, all in her simplicity in this buried treasure that reveals in essence what any story of an individual WWII resistance fighter reveals, about being your utmost and paramount self, which is a job that could not be more perfectly suited for Mary Linden.

This was a pretty solid Hallmark Hall Of Fame made-for-TV story about a real- life woman "Countess Mary Lindell" (Judy Davis) who helped Allies during World War II. Many of the military men in need were downed pilots and Lindell would help these men get safely out of occupied France. Her character was a strong one and her resolve to do what she could against the Germans was resolute. Helping her accomplish that were her kids: a son and a daughter (a young Kate Beckinsale!).The story lags in spots or I would have rated it higher. It was well-done but not a film I'd watch numerous times, although I might if they'd issue this on DVD.

I have just finished viewing the movie on WE TV. This movie is a keeper. The acting was outstanding, the music well done, and the plot captivating. The emotional development of the movie was probably the weakest point. Still the directing was effective, albeit unusual in places. The make up was superb.