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DEFIANCE Send This Review to a Friend
The Holocaust continues to yield more stories, and “Defiance” is based on a true one about heroic brothers who saved many Jews from slaughter under the Nazis. It is an action packed, harrowing adventure yarn that, although having its fill of clichés, is nonetheless engrossing, both as a story and as an always welcome reminder of what it was like to resist the Nazi oppressors during World War II.
Three Bielsky brothers—Tuvia, Zus and Asael—escape from occupied Poland and seek refuge in the Belarussian forest, where they shelter other Jews hiding from the Nazis, even setting up a village. The village comes under attack and there is a bitter fight for survival.
The film, directed by Edward Zwick, who co-wrote the screenplay with Clayton Frohman, has a strong cast, with Daniel Craig as Tuvia, the brother who had the most leadership quality, Liev Schreiber as Zus, the hot-headed one who is filled with hunger for revenge and Jamie Bell as the younger Asael who takes leadership from his elder brothers.
The Bielskis join the Russian resistance fighters, some of whom have no use for Jews, given the prevailing anti-Semitism. But the Bielskis are ready to take on anybody, and they earn respect. The action is brutal and the situation is tragic for many, but the story also is in effect a salute to those with the courage to battle rather than go helplessly to their deaths.
As for the clichés, there is the inevitable romance, this one between Asael and the pretty Lika (Alexa Davalos), time out for a Jewish wedding in the forest and fighting between brothers. However, it is the basic story that counts. At the end of the film we get a run-down of what happened to the real Bielskis. A Paramount Vantage release.
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