De Gaulle: Résistance (La Bataille de Gaulle - partie 1 : L'Âge de Fer): what age is it for? 13 alone, 12 with a parent
13 alone, 12 with a parent.
In France, zinema would say 12.
Alone, or with you
Alone from 13; from 12, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.
The sweet spot: around 13-16, when they start learning about World War II at school and can wonder what it means to refuse. Why a sweet spot?
The trailer
What it's about
June, 1940. France collapses and signs the armistice. In the midst of the chaos, one man refuses to give up. Alone against the odds, this unknown general flees to London to save what remains of freedom.
Why 13
- Our readingNot rated in the US. We say 13: A desert battle with bloodied wounded soldiers, young protesters under fire, and near the end an assassination followed by an execution filmed up close on the condemned man. Thirteen on their own, twelve with a parent.reading
- An assassination, then an executionNear the end, a man is shot at point-blank range, then a young man is executed by a firing squad. The camera stays on his face until the order to fire; the impact isn't shown, but we see him afterward in his coffin, his shirt stained with blood. It's the hardest scene in the movie.shown
- War in the desertA long desert battle: explosions, gunfire, soldiers with bloodied faces, a dying man on the ground. The wounds are visible, without close-ups of the injuries.shown
- Students under fireA protest by young Parisians turns tragic: soldiers fire into the crowd and young people fall on the cobblestones.shown
- Lots of smoking, some swearingCharacters smoke constantly, as people did at the time, and a few curse words slip out in moments of anger.shown
What the movie brings
- A chapter of history told at human scale: what it costs to refuse to give in, and how a handful of people held on when everything seemed lost.
Watching it together
Before you start, you could explain the summer of 1940, France's surrender, and London, and mention that the movie is long and one scene near the end is hard to watch.
at 13 and up
What makes someone say no when almost everyone else is saying yes?
See the facts
For the same age, on zinema
- Matchbox the Movie 13
- Jaws 12, 11 with a parent
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day 13
- World Trade Center 13
The latest guides
- Predator: Badlands 13
- La Belle et la Bête 12, 11 with a parent
- Le Grand Bain 12, 11 with a parent
- Kaamelott : Deuxième Volet, partie 1 12, 11 with a parent
A zinema reading from October 3, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made