Defiance Review

Defiance is set in Belarus in 1941 and tells the incredible story of the Bielski brothers. The invading Nazi Germans are hunting down Jews throughout Eastern Europe, and thousands of innocents are being slaughtered daily. The three Bielski brothers slip through the net, and seek refuge in the dense surrounding forests. They create a hidden community amongst the trees and hope to avenge the deaths of their families and friends by saving many more in the forests.



The movie is directed by Ed Zwick (The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond), and stars Daniel Craig (007) as the eldest brother and leader of the Bielski Otriad, Tuvia Bielski, Liev Schreiber (The Machurian Candidate, X-Men Origins) as the tough middle brother Zus, and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Jumper) as the youngest brother Asael.

There is clearly an incredible true story at the heart of this movie, as the closing titles inform us, the Bielski camp eventually numbered 1200 when the war ended, and the two eldest brother eventually lived in New York, but never sought any recognition for their incredible achievement. But unfortunately this incredible story gets muddled along the way. Zwick is clearly an adept action director, indeed the action scenes in Defiance are thrilling, but when it comes to the human story, he does have a tendency to lay it on thick. There are so many moments of broad humour, cliched character types, and incredibly awkward dialogue throughout ("Jews don't kill" "Well these Jews do"), you could almost hear the collective eye-rolling in the screening.

Daniel Craig asserts his leading man status, with his piercing blue eyes shining through the mud, he brings depth to a role which feels underwritten, and could potentially have come ended up very unsympathetic in someone elses hands. Liev Schreiber puts in a convincing action-man type performance, but didn't leave much of an impression otherwise. Jamie Bell probably makes the most out of his slender role, building on it, and growing with the film, his rousing speech in the final third feels genuine and heartfelt, and gives older brother Tuvia the boost that he needs to pull through.

Overall, the film makes a fairly decent action romp, but due to it's sensitive subject nature, and the fact that this is a true story, it feels like it perhaps may have been better suited to a director more interested in the human element, than the action side. I just got the feeling that if it had been MY story that they were telling, i'd have been disappointed. WW2 and the holocaust are rich source of material of material for film-makers, and this is perhaps one of the most inspiring unheard stories yet, but it can be done with subtlety, and this just shows you how not to do it.

2/5

Despite the glossy production, thrilling action and decent performances, this is no more than an average war movie. Not the inspirational gut-churner it should have been.