Movie Review: 'Defiance'

This is the part where I act like an authority on entertainment, and criticize the work of professionals who are, without exception, more successful than I in the industry in which we both work. Some people would say this is proof I have "balls", or "chutzpah" in Jewspeak. Others would say it's proof I'm a "douchebag". To catch up on any old reviews, you can find the link on the right hand side of the page, or just click here.

’Defiance’ just may be my JEFME film of the year. The JEFME formula relies heavily on a film’s ending and the viewer’s expectations heading in. Despite ranking it at #7 on my Top 10 list of movies I still wanted to see this year, I didn’t have particularly high hopes.

Some other movies had climbed above it, and I hadn’t heard much hype about it. I still haven’t heard much hype, but now I’m beginning to wonder why. I’m sure its subject matter has something to do with it. It is a true story about three Jewish brothers who escaped Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest, where one joined the Russian resistance while the other two built a village in order to protect themselves from the Nazis. That’s not blockbuster material. But it’s not like ’Doubt’ is the feel-good movie of the holiday season, and I see hype for that everywhere I look.

But hype or no hype -- and JEFME or no JEFME -- I thought it was one of the 10 best movies I saw this year. Of course, now that you’ve read this, your expectations will be raised so that JEFME mojo will be working against you. And ’Defiance’ won’t be for everybody -- it’s a dark, intense drama that takes character and arc more seriously then fight scenes. The result is more ’Schindler’s List’ than ’Saving Private Ryan’.

Liev Schrieber and Daniel Craig are Zus and Tuvia Bielski, respectively. Brothers who share pain and anger, but direct it in very different ways, their dual stories -- both together and apart -- shape the story. Their stormy, competitive relationship with each other, the differing roads they choose to take following their escape from Poland, and the different, but diverging paths they take to salvation are the driving forces within the story, and their performances carry the film. Each give their characters multi-layered, complicated, vivid personas, which makes their incredible journeys that much more rewarding.

Along for the ride is younger brother Asael Bielski (Jamie Bell). He’s asked to go toe to toe with some serious talent and comes through like a champ. The brothers have all lost their parents, and soon lose more than that. They have no homes, no lives, no future. Tuvia and Asael choose to build a village and stay with the other Jews who drift in from time to time, borrowing (and stealing) food from nearby farms to survive. While the more combative Zus goes off with Russian Resistance fighters to kill Nazis for revenge.

In the camp, the Brothers Bielski fall for women but life is not easy. They are racked with famine and disease, and have to do unsettling things to survive. Not to mention the camp politics when the group swells, and food rations are scarce. The storylines are many, varied, and each delicately portrayed.

Weaving together all the threads seamlessly are co-screenwriters Clayton Frohman and Ed Zwick, who also directed. The script is adapted from the non-fiction book ’Defiance: the Bielski Partisans’. It’s an amazing story, and I’m surprised it’s taken this long to see it told on the screen. Maybe the similar ’Schindler’s List’ stole its thunder, but this story is just as heroic, and its effects are just as far-reaching.

A heroic story carries no guarantee of good film, however, and Zwick deserves a lot credit for making sure the facts fit into a coherent, and entertaining structure. Zwick does here what he always does, telling a politically-charged story (see: 'Glory', 'Blood Diamond', etc) in a straight-forward, matter of fact, Ron Howard-like way -- short of style, long on substance.

Judging by the aforementioned lack of hype, I guess Zwick and company's efforts will go largely un-rewarded this awards season (its only Golden Globes nomination was for Original Score), but it’s one of the better films of December -- the prestige opening period in Hollywood.

Using the age-old Hollywood scale of judgment -- HIGHLY RECOMMEND/RECOMMEND/CONSIDER/PASS (circle one) -- I rate 'Defiance':

RECOMMEND