see this film, talk about it and then go and try to learn something new from history

Rating: 8/10 (14 January 2009)

First off, what idiot wrote the synopsis?
There were *four* Bielski brothers who escaped into the woods and they were *all* eventually under arms: Tuvia, Zus (third eldest, in fact), Asael (second eldest) and *Aron*.
Secondly, none of the Bielski's intentionally set off to save 1200+ Jews of East Poland and West Belarus. Their struggle was initially and understandably for their own survival after the slaughter of their parents. The "saving" of so many others began by accident and according to conscience, with considerable internal strife. And don't anyone kid themselves, lots of personal scores are settled in wartime.
Thirdly, great liberties were taken with history in the Zwick/Frohman screenplay that does not do justice to the detailed facts of the real story of the Bielski otriad and their checkered history prior to and during WW2. The thuggishness of the older Bielski brothers is only very slightly alluded to in the film, under the heavy cover of the ends justifying the means. Regardless of whether or not the Bielski otriad was in anyway involved, the entire matter of the 1943 Naliboki massacre (by Russian partisans, at the very least) is completely omitted from the film. All done to bolster comparisons between Tuvia and Moses.
All of that said, I found Defiance to be far more moving, suspenseful and entertaining than Valkyrie and Quantum of Solace combined.
The performances by Craig, Schreiber, Bell and MacKay (who plays Aron) combine to deliver a fine piece of ensemble acting.
The use of spoken Russian whenever the Bielski otriad dealt with Russian partisans was dramatically appropriate, in order to emphasize the other-ness of the Jewish partisans within the larger Russian resistance to the Nazi invasion/occupation. The use of Eastern European/Yiddish accented English (as a substitute for Yiddish accented Polish), within the Bielski otriad, invites the audience to sympathize, if not identify more, with them easily.
These fighters and "malbushim" were thrust together to make history, by equal parts circumstance, choice and necessity. Which is how history is more usually made than by Great Man design.
Written history emphasizes that the "success" of the Bielski otriad was rooted in the strategies of survivalism and guerrilla tactics that demanded maximizing evasion and minimizing direct contact and conflict with Nazi forces. The film takes great license with these major points in order to compress the life-and-death stakes of a *three+ year* ordeal into an 137 minute film. The fact that >1200 were saved by the war's end remains undiminished by any of this.
For some, this dramatic mish-mash will be unacceptable. For others, it may become an impetus to further study history.
In any event, I was nearly moved to guy-tears, at several moments, for the emotional truth that the lead actors brought to their roles. There are many unspoken parallels between the racially segregated units of the US Army fighting in Europe during WW2 and this story, too, where black and brown (rather than Jew) were always more expendable than white.
None of the romantic sub-plots offended me, either.
See this film, talk about it and then go and try to learn something new from history, if you were moved.
I have no sympathy for those who luxuriate in "Holocaust fatigue" and I have no patience with those who think only Jews can be the victims of "pogroms."
What happened then is still happening today and what are any of us doing about that? History will judge us no less harshly.