Defiance

Defiance is the title of the 2008 film by Edward Zwick who before this film, directed Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, The Siege, Legends of the Fall, and Glory. That’s quite an impressive list. So there were high expectations for this film which was set in the early 1940′s in Eastern Europe. There, three Jewish brothers escape from the Nazi forces into the forests of Eastern Poland and Belarus at the head of a small band of survivors who chose to struggle for life by foraging for food and weapons, hoping to survive the brutal winters, the Nazis, and the collaborationists.

Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell play the Bielski brothers Tuvia, Zus, and Asael. Both of their parents and each of their wives and children had perished at the hands of the Nazis. The film’s two taglines were “Freedom begins with an act of defiance”, “Courage is the ultimate weapon.”

So we have a tale of survival in the forest, and all of that tied in with the anti-Semitism of some of the Poles and the Russians, as well as the Nazis. While this film may have literally been a long walk deep into the forest – this was no picnic. These people were faced with deprivations and hardships of hunger, without the benefits of shelter, warmth, along with the overriding lack of sanitary conditions not to mention privacy.

When they had to flee, they had to leave behind almost everything. This happened repeatedly. This ultimately led to a rift between Zus who wanted to fight or die fighting, who reasoned that by fighting and killing Germans, he would be saving Jews. While Tuvia, who wanted to survive and keep the group alive by avoiding conflict except for small guerilla like raids to steal food, clothes, weapons and ammunition. So they split up – with Tuvia staying in the forest with the growing group of people struggling to survive while Zus and a handful of men decided to leave and join up with a large group of Russian partisans and soldiers.

This film is a lot to handle. While we root for all of the brothers – you will have the ethical conflict that they faced popping up in your own head. Should they fight, and kill, and be as animalistic as those they were fighting. Or was the path of survival by evasion and hiding better in the long run. Tuvia said, “We may be hunted like animals, but we will not become animals.” Zus, as he was leaving said, ” Anyone else who would rather fight, than wait to be killed, now is your chance.”

Well this was a true story. They started with about fifty people and at the end of the war, their numbers had grown to 1200. Tuvia would go on to say, “Every day of freedom is an act of faith.” They became adept at being self-sustaining. Not only did they live in the forests but they were also living directly on and beneath the soil. A hardy lot indeed.

Both Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber brought a lot of power to their performances. Yes, they were heroic figures in the way that most of us idealize our heroes, and leaders. Yet – they weren’t larger than life as was Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence of Arabia, or William Holden as Major Shears on The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

From another perspective, Zwick did not direct an epic like those films I just mentioned that were directed by David Lean. No, the scope was much smaller. The canvas covered a smaller territory and far fewer people appeared on the screen.

Having said that, I will clarify by saying, that while Defiance is not quite an epic, it is a film worth seeing. And watching a group of people whose world was far darker than anything we’ve lived through, come out into the sunshine is indeed life affirming.

Watch for two touching performances by two actresses. First is Mia Wasikowska, an Australian born actress who would play Chaya (above with Jamie Bell), the love interest of Asael whose story arc began with him as a boy in his late teens. but by the film’send he had grown into a leader. The other is Alexa Davalos, the Paris born beauty (below) who would become Tuvia’s love interest, Lilka, in the film. Both actresses will have your heart, not because they are beautiful women, and not because they were sympathetic characters, but because they brought their humanity to the forefront. You identify with them even more than you might with Schreiber and Craig’s male characters.

Why? Because at the beginning, the women were deemed not capable of fighting or even handling weapons. They weren’t allowed to even protect themselves. They would be protected by the men. While Zwick’s script took these and other women in the cast 180 degrees in the opposite direction as the film progressed, it still took some superb performances to make this point all the more distressing initially, then all the more pleasing later.

My rating is a four point two five out of five. I’m calling this film very rewarding, and saying that it is a must-see.

Check out the trailer below.