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Defiance film review.This true world war two drama is directed by Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, Glory) and stars, Liev Schriber, Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell and Alexa Davalos. This enthralling drama is based on the book by Nechama Tec called “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans”
The Plot
Around autumn of 1941 when Hitler’s armies invaded Soviet Union in the Blitzkrieg push toward the Russian capital Moscow, three Jewish brothers from eastern Poland seek refuge in the Belorussian woods. During their time in the woods they join forces with other Soviet Partisans and some members of the Red Army who in hindsight help to protect them and to help attack and harass Nazi forces and disrupt their supplies and communications. They were able to save as many as 1200 people through the nearly 5 years of war.

Now you’re probably wondering what a Partisan is; Partisans are basically civilians with weapons and often mount guerrilla attacks. Zwick (the director just incase you forgot) knew it too and don’t worry the word is explained in the movie too. Partisans often operate on their own, without supervision of or subordination with the regular army chain of command. There was cooperation and coordination between them, but basically the partisan units tend to form on the occupied territory where regular troops have retreated.
In my opinion Daniel Craig is one of the major selling points for this film; the other was that I heard the movie is set in Belorussia which intrigued me greatly. I think its about time Hollywood came up with a movie about the role of Soviet Union in the war. A few years ago there was a movie called “Enemy at the gates” (directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud) this film tells the tale of Vasily Zaitsev a sniper in the Red Army who killed hundreds of Germans during the battle for Stalingrad; the turning point in the War. I think this movie really crushed the usual “clichés”.
The film…
The film begins in 1941 where archival footage is being played of Hitler’s armies marching east. The subtitles inform us about killing of Jews in Belorussia. It then takes a smooth transition into color film and the heroes of the movie come to life. We are introduced to three brothers; one bearing a rifle. They take refuge in the safe haven of the woods and dream of taking revenge upon the Nazi’s that killed their family. They somehow soon get their revenge, in poorly-planned and lucky attack. After this attack they acquire more weapons and ammunition. They soon stumble upon other surviving Jewish families and have no choice but to protect them. As the film progresses the group of survivors gets larger and larger, now they have the problem of feeding these people too! As if it wasn’t enough to be protecting 20+ people! Anyway they ask farmers to help. The Nazis soon caught on about it and they punished people severely for helping partisans, (in Belorussia and Ukraine if anyone was caught helping partisans the Nazis would often burn the entire village and the population alive.) As this was the case the three brothers decided they would rob the farms, however some farmers would report it to the SS and the local German Police force in the area. The living conditions where depicted very well in this film.

Daniel Craig’s character; (the leader of Jewish partisans) there is an air of mystery about him; in the film it is incited he had done some questionable things in his past; however he still remains a hero. There are number conflicts in the movie; they are all accurate, realistic battles and reflect human nature in its most grotesque form (The separation of strong and the weak, the competition between brothers, the anti-Semitism in the Russian camp of Partisans, the fear, the fight for survival, demoralization, treason, hatred and anger)
There are some absolutely stunning camera shots incorporated within this film. I think this really helps show the viewer how hard it would be to live in the woods, during the winter. I have a feeling that director of the movie or the screenplay writers must have seen a lot of soviet war movies because the style and cinematography is very similar. The movie was shot in Lithuania incidentally an ally of the Nazis in world war two.
I really do not want to give too much away, so I’m going to stop right there before I get carried away.
Brilliant film 8/10 I advise you go and see it.
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Thanks Joe.
:)

Madhatter!

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