A "true" story worth telling, but not told well

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2009)

This movie is actually a refreshing departure from most films in its genre, because it bravely shows jews the way so many of them are: extremely selfish, centric, argumentative, resistant to do physical labor and very quick to blame anything and everything for their troubles, most of which stem from their unwillingness to assimilate.
Of course, not all Jewish folks are that way, not by a long shot, but you never forget the ones that are.
This movie is about a group of jews who live in the woods to survive the genocide of WWII. Most of their difficulties arise from the fact that most of them (not all) are unwilling to do anything besides complain bewilderedly about their predicament and wonder who will take care of them.
James Bond is in this movie, playing a jew who's more than willing to work with his hands, fight and kill. I loved that!
Typical of a Hollywood movie, despite all their deprivations, surviving a Russian Winter with almost no food, filthy and sick, when Spring time comes, the lead characters don't look like they've missed a meal, haircut or Berverly Hills dentist appointment.
(If you want to see an method actor really suffering for his role, check out Christian Bale in The Mechanic.)
The film is missing Hollywood's seeming requisite homosexual content, you know, at least one same-sex relationship to remind us all that "there's nothing wrong with that."
Defiance has a few minutes of excitement, most mostly repeats scene after scene of arguments.
A skilled film maker would have taken this story and made a good, 1-hour docudrama out of it. Sadly, this film milks it a 2-hour "Schindler goes camping" rip off.
Defiance comes up short.