Edward Zwick has a taste for heroic epics, with memorable films such as Glory, Legends of the Fall, Courage Under Fire, and more recently, the fine Blood Diamond. He has also had misfires such as The Last Samurai, which was a beautifully shot film but quite criticized for its potentially racist world-view. With Defiance, Zwick takes on World War II and the Jewish struggle, and the result is also somewhat of a misfire.
This is not to say the film is not entertaining – it’s quite hard to do that when you’re telling the true story of a group of Jewish people trying to escape the holocaust by living in the forest and employing guerilla warfare to fight the Germans. This small group is led by the Bielski brothers – Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell), who were smugglers before the war and now lead the rebels. Having lost all their loved ones, the brothers have different views on their resistance – for Zuvia, the eldest, it is not about revenge but survival, while for Zus it is a matter of blood for blood. Their differences eventually leads them upon different paths – Zuvia opts to take in as many people as he can into his camp, while Zus joins the Russian army to fight the Germans.
The most potent message raised in this 135 minute action film – it is a war film, after all, and the action is the central piece – is humanity in inhumane circumstances. During a typical speech scene, Tuvia declares, “even though we are hunted like animals, we will not become animals.” While somewhat clichéd, the film does discuss this question quite well, and there is a scene in which it is surprisingly thought-provoking.
Daniel Craig is a good actor, but he needs to be careful of being stereotyped as James Bond. His performance in this film will not help him in that regard – it is simply Bond with a Eastern European accent – although this might not be entirely his fault. Liev Schreiber, who has long been a familiar face as a supporting actor in Hollywood films, gives a more authentic performance and is potentially scene-stealing.
In the end, this film does not go beyond previous works depicting the Jewish people in the terrible Holocaust, and is more of a genre film aimed squarely at the male demographic. Definitely not the Oscar material that Mr. Zwick perhaps had in mind.
7/10
http://www.dani19.com/2009/01/26/defiance-2008/
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