Defiance

Welcome to the "D" List

My next entry is Defiance Co-Written and Directed by Edward Zwick. Zwick's recent filmography has been films with similar themes. I am speaking of The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond, both excellent films by the way. I recommend them both if you haven't seen them. The themes I speak of are like the films I just mentioned, Defiance is a period piece and is set in a time of war where the protagonists are greatly outnumbered by the the enemy and in this case it's the germans.

The plot of Defiance is based on the true story of the Bielski brothers, Tuvia the oldest played by Daniel Craig, Zus the middle played by Liev Schreiber and Asael the youngest played by Jamie Bell. They live in nazi occupied Bellorussia. The film begins in the village where the brothers come from is attacked and destroyed by the germans. Zus and Asael were able to avoid capture and hide in the neighboring woods when Tuvia meets up with them. Tuvia was away when the attack took place and comes back to see if anyone's survived. The brother's band together and keep hidden in the woods while trying to figure out what their next move is.

As they continue to venture into the forest they come across more Jews hiding from the nazi's. Against Zus' objection Tuvia takes them along and as the story progresses more Jews turn up to the point where a community is created with Tuvia assuming command and leadership of the people. The people, men, women, children and the elderly work together to survive and keep the germans off their trail. Over time the people grow in numbers and so do the weapons. They all become very equipped with firearms and are all taught how to use them.

Throughout the film you are exposed to many people in the community hearing news of their families in other villages or towns being killed which is designed to inspire feelings of sadness and an increasing sentiment for revenge and it's that emotion that drives Zus and Tuvia apart. Zus wants to attack any and every german occupied town while Tuvia feels prudent to stay hidden and only fight for defense and safety. It's that disagreement that splits the brother's up. Zus leaves the camp to join a band of russian freedom fighters who do not accept him as an equal because he's a Jew but will gladly accept his fighting ability and his weapon. Tuvia stays behind and leads the camp preparing for the winter which he knows will test the will and resolve of everyone in the camp.

When winter comes it takes it's toll on the community. Food becomes scarce and as a result order begins to fail the community. The hunters begin to impose their will on the people and not share what food they bring back equally with the rest of the camp which also directly challenges Tuvia's authority. Initially he backs off until he finally decides to make an example of one of the greedy hunters. I won't say what he does but the end result sends a message loud and clear to everyone that Tuvia is in charge and if anyone doesn't like it can be on their way.

As winter ends the community begins to loosen up until they find out that the germans are sweeping the forest and plan to attack which forces them to flee the impending invasion. This begins the final of several action scenes that are a staple in an Edward Zwick film. For some reason he feels it's necessary to inject and action set piece every so often in his films. Now granted when you're making a film about Jews fighting the Nazi's some gun play is vital to the story but in Defiance there is more action than what is really needed to move the story along. The story of these amazing people surviving in the woods is captivating enough, you don't need to have the random skirmishes that take place here. Another trademark in Zwick's film is the running time. At about 2 hours and 15 mins, Defiance is a little draggy, I think cutting about 15-20 mins will make this a much tighter film.

Despite what may sound like complaints, Defiance is a solid film concerning a story that deserved to be told and in my opinion was LONG overdue however, having said that, I don't think anyone could have done a better job with the material besides Zwick with the possible exception of Clint Eastwood. He just needs to stop "HOLLYWOOD-IZING" period pieces that already have a compelling narative.

Aside from that the cast was superb headlined by Daniel Craig who is quickly showing that he can play more than just everyone's favorite british spy. Liev Schrieber was excellent as Zus. He is without a doubt an underrated actor who deserves more roles. Jamie Bell was also fantastic as Asael in fact it can be argued that he was the scene stealer. As the youngest brother you see him mature before your eyes from the crying boy who misses his parents to the fearless fighter who will risk his life to defend his people and family.

Overall Defiance gets a B-

I leave you to decide if it's worth your $$$ but I will say it's worth your time to see this film.

My next review will be The Wrestler, Directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring the AMAZING Mickey Rourke in his Best Actor Winning performance (that's right I said it) as Randy "The Ram" Robinson.

Until Next Episode...I'll save you a seat.

"D"