A Potentially Good Story Gets Watered Down Badly

Rating: 7/10 (2 November 2015)

Based on factual events, "Defiance" tells the story of three Jewish brothers from Poland, who succeeded in usurping the Nazis as they hideout from them in the deep forests along with other Jewish refugees as they settle into the Belarusian forests along with other Jewish recruits as they hide and prepare to defend themselves against the Nazis or any other anti-Semite groups wanting to have them terminated. Better known as the Bielski Partisans was defined as the most largest and successful Jewish factions who stood up against Nazi rulings and held their own in succession. It was quite peculiar though that when the filmmakers led by director Edward Zwick arrived on the scenes, they were surprised to discover that the local residents currently living have forgotten about such a tale and even more baffling was that there were were no Jewish people living there. Zwick leads his audience to explore how they survived, how they organized themselves, how their ethics were questioned and how their anecdotes can be narrated by melodrama.
I will have to say that "Defiance" has all the essential tools to fit the criteria of a deeply emotional WWII Holocaust story. However, I felt a bit disconnected with the story mainly because the emphasis was more focused on the characters within the group as opposed how they're going to take down the Nazis. The Nazis were the prominent threat to the Jewish refugees like in the 2004 film "The Village". Do the Nazis have to be the primary narrative for this film to work? Not necessarily, but the film gets bogged down when personal conflicts, issues and romantic interludes that at times feels more like a reality show, that just lacks the vital substance that the far superior "Schindler's List" had to offer.
It just feels more like a WWII survival story with some sporadic moments of Nazi in pursuit of finding these resistors and destroying the foundations they created. The action outside the surface of the trailers are also very meagre. The survival story here can depict any kind of period of time. In our darkest hours into our future, we may have to hideout in forests to survive. It would be grand if we had someone like the Bielski brothers there to help us if needed. They were farmers who were lethal, resourceful and adept at fighting skills and just great people to lead through difficult situations.
The Bielski brothers are oldest one Tuvia (Daniel Craig), the middle one Zus (Liev Schreiber) and the second-youngest one Asael (Jamie Bell) and the youngest one Aron (George McKay). After escaping possible genocide from the Nazis, the brothers retreat into the forest. They're followed by other Jewish people in the surrounding area hiding out and resisting execution as well while the news of their hideout causes an outrage as the Nazis come looking for them. Tuvia the true leader here declares that all Jewish people must hide, even those not fit for fighting. Zus, the enforcer would rather kill Nazis than save the Jewish. The contrasting concepts between both brothers rings true today in Gaza between helping our kind while hurting theirs.
The refugee ensemble play pivotal roles in means to survive out here in the wilderness. They learn to feed their families by robbing food, establishing a health clinic for the sick, building a court and even a tanning salon of all things. Sure romance becomes commonplace everywhere, but in a movie that has tension building up to your ears, it really doesn't have a place here in this movie and some are just so implausibly too warm for a film of this magnitude. Craig and Schreiber play their respected roles convincingly and their contrary ways of war versus peace almost gets pretty personal until Zus gives up hope and joins up with the Russian partisans who hate the Jewish just as much as the Nazis.
The most interesting character outside the Bielski brothers is an incompetent middle-aged man named Shimon Haretz (Allen Corduner) wants in on the group as they ask what he is known for. Appearing to be in intellect, but his skills have so significance to the partisans, but he's still welcomed to stay. At the time the refugees were predominately cultivators and peasants, while others were handy craftsmen, artists and labourers. If I was in their position what good would I be to them? In many ways there are more Shimon Hartetz's than actual warriors settling there.
The best an possibly the most nuanced performance comes from Liev Schreiber. That's because Zus Bielski has his sights set on the real reason they're hiding in the first place. To kill as many Nazis before they strike at them. Daniel Craig is still good Tuvia, as the more peaceful leader, but he's more occupied in being like a mayor and organizing laws and community planning which is necessary, but not logical.
So as a Nazi looks by, he notices that the Bielskis had turned their refugee camp into a booming village in the wilderness. As time goes on, it becomes more dire as Nazis and other Anti-Semites were coming from Germany, Russia and Poland. The obey by Soviet forces but can't be hoodwinked. Their efforts succeeded and to this many Jewish people would have never been born had it not been for the Bielski brothers.