Defiance

Copyright 2008, Paramount Vantage

It's almost getting to the point where World War II in general should be off-limits to filmmakers. 15 years ago, Steven Spielberg made one of a few films about World War II and the Holocaust and, though a powerful vision, it's also helped spur on the idea of Nazism as entertainment. Even in movies such as Defiance, where the Nazis are barely in the story, mostly hovering as some kind of spectral demon, being entertained by the daring and jaw-dropping feats of bravery is the goal. Despite those reservations, Edward Zwick's latest historical action drama is surprisingly quite good.

I say "surprisingly," because, although this movie was advertised almost a year ago and seemed tailor-made for loads of Oscar nominations, it was also written off almost as quickly, garnering only a nomination for Best Score, by James Newton Howard (who should have been nominated this year, but for The Dark Knight instead). Defiance, in being solidly made and filled with emotion at all the right spots, is much like Zwick's other films, specifically Glory and The Last Samurai, harkens back to the idea of movies being made like they were back in the 40s and 50s. The heroism portrayed here in the characters played by Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell wasn't uncommon to American war heroes dramatized for film, so I suppose it's no shock that the not-so-popular story of the Bielski brothers was right in Zwick's wheelhouse.

Tuvia, Zus and Asaul Bielski were Russian Jews who retreated into the forests of Russia when their parents and families were slaughtered by Russian soldiers working for the SS. They stayed in the forests for three years and ended up saving over a thousand Jews. Though the movie only focuses on the first year of those three, the sheer magnitude of what these three brothers did is unable to be put into words. Zwick pays plenty of honor to the three men, despite the fraternal fight that dominates the majority of the film between Tuvia and Zus (Craig and Schreiber). Still, the character who is given the most heroic part is Craig's Tuvia.

I don't want to presume otherwise, but I did wonder if the Herculean tasks did fall completely on Tuvia's shoulders, so Asaul, the youngest wouldn't help out, even after Zus abandons his family to fight with Russian partisans against the SS. Of course, Craig is able to pull it off, as his filmography continues to include movies where he's given a slightly idiosyncratic part to pull off. This may be closer to James Bond than the despicable son in Road to Perdition, but there's enough imperfection in Craig's performance that lends to his humanity. Though his character resorts to quick and sudden violence every once in a while (particularly in a scene two-thirds of the way through), Tuvia believes humans are better than that.

That Zus believes differently, or that he doesn't care if violence makes him more animalistic, is the argument. Zus shows no remorse in killing as many Nazis as he can, while when Tuvia oversees the group killing of one kidnapped Nazi, we're meant to look upon those doing the deed as animals. This is really the only scene in the film that fails, mostly because with all the knowledge we have about the Nazis and the atrocities they committed, it's hard not to see Zus' point of view. Maybe it's Schreiber, who doesn't have as much to do as Craig but is rigidly marvelous as the brother who can kill a Nazi and become frustrated with the eagerness to find another body to kill. Craig and Schreiber are both uniformly excellent (even if Craig has a little bit of trouble with the Russian accent in scenes that require him to shout) as is Bell, who's growing up into a fine actor, moving past just being Billy Elliott.

Something of note is the cinematography by Eduardo Serra, who uses his camera to chilling effect. One of the major crises for the Jews in the forest is making it through the winter, so when the camerawork effectively and efficiently makes audience members shiver, when the snow seems to fall right at our feet, it's kudos for Serra's painterly images. The action scenes in the film, of which there are only a few, all work well, but unlike previous Zwick films, the action doesn't seem to work as strongly if only because the director seems far more interested in the moral struggle these survivors had, focusing on the in-fighting among some Jews, intellectuals and fighters alike.

A movie like Defiance seems to live in another time, but resonates strongly, more so than recent Nazi-themed movies, partly because of the shocking story being unearthed for most audiences and partly because of the realistic humanity being afforded to these people.

Three and a half stars out of four