Adapted from the novel by Dr. Nechama Tec, Defiance is the true story of the Bielski brothers and their part in the Resistance movement of WWII.
Some men have greatness forced upon them. This is what happens to Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig) when he attempts to lead a small group of Jews into the forest to live in safety from the Nazi's and the local police. To the chagrin of Tuvia, the numbers of his forest refugee camp continue to grow and Tuvia begins to realize the challenge of caring for such large numbers.
Tuvia and his brother Zus (Liev Schreiber) have a falling out over what paths their new village should take. Zus leaves, wanting to actively participate in the resistance while Tuvia, attempts to lead his group toward a peaceful existence in the forest.
The forest village becomes something of a social experiment as Tuvia lays out the rules for living with their group. Not surprisingly, Tuvia adopts a socialist set of mandates for the camp. Everyone works, and each person gets the same share of food. The Marxist rules do not sit well with several of the men, who daily risk their lives to secure food and therefore believe themselves entitled to a larger share.
Played by Daniel Craig, Tuvia attempts to lead a peaceful village.
Directed by Edward Zwick, Defiance is subtle in its storytelling, and it's clear the storytellers were trying to avoid sensationalizing the Bielski brothers. The problem is, in avoiding sensationalizing the story, they have taken away much of the urgency of the situation. Zwick used subtlety extremely well in Blood Diamond and Glory, but subtlety makes this particular story falter.
Defiance is a movie that shows quality, but does not have the flair of the book.
This creates a story that is full of watered-down-intensity. The novel that the movie is based on tells the story in a more engaging way, and tends to keep more in line with the historical Bielskis.
The plot moves on at a good clip in the first 45 minutes, then takes a sharp decline for the meat of the movie. It picks up again for the last half-hour, but struggles to bring its audience out of the bog of the middle hour.
While the score of the film is nominated for a Golden Globe, the music is so faint it is hardly ever noticed and often overpowered by the sound effects.
Those who pay attention to details will be dismayed to note that one of the major subplots of the movie involve the Bielski brothers searching for Ampicllin, a medicine that was not developed until the 1960s.
Ultimately the story of the Bielski brothers is told more accurately and more excitingly by Dr. Tec than by Zwick.
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