Band of brothers...

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2009)

I'm well aware as I write this of the ironic timing of the release of this movie, celebrating the courage and will to live of a group of Belarussian Jews displaced by the Nazi purges of the Second World War at the same time as the state of Israel is being criticised by many areas of the international community for its air-strikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which may in fact adversely affect its box-office potential.
That said, this is a story worth telling, especially as I was largely unaware of active resistance by Jews against the monstrous juggernaut of the exterminating Nazis. The movie is hyper-realistic in delivery, the cinematography unstinting in its depiction of the general hand-to-mouth squalor which the travelling band of resistors had to endure, all gloomy greys and browns. No Speilbergian flashes of red here.
The acting is generally good, if somewhat one-dimensional throughout, Daniel Craig having just the right stony-face disposition to depict stoically determined "leader" Tuvia Bielski and as you'd imagine after his 007 training, well up to the physical demands of the role. And yet, he does lack for me a defining spark of personality, which reduces the impact of his performance. The supporting roles are well played too by men and women alike, although it has to be said that there never were three brothers that looked less alike than Messrs Craig, Schreiber and Bell.
The movie is of necessity unrelenting as it attempts to convey the day- to-day struggle and fears of discovery of the commune but does for me make too many concessions to Hollywood mores, with the timely insertion of "big scenes" you can see coming in advance, often clichéd, like the treatment of the renegade who challenges Craig's authority and particularly the pat ending where you just know that Brother Zus is going to come to a cavalry-type rescue of his brother before their inevitable reconciliation.
There are some scenes which work better for their lack of sentimentality and predictability, none more so in the shocking scene where Craig allows the angry mob to tear apart a stray German they've captured and also the scene near the beginning where Craig exacts retribution on the traitorous collaborators responsible for the death of his parents. On both occasions, the viewer's sympathies are sufficiently and understandably manipulated to accept and dare I say it condone the barbarism of both acts.
Some of my reservations though are unfair perhaps. If I disliked some aspects of the almost "buddy buddy" relationship of the brothers, the fact is that they were based on real-life brothers and I suppose one has to allow the director some latitude in inserting periodic action or even, (very briefly) romantic scenes as a sop to the entertainment demands of a big-budget movie.
In conclusion though, I would have to say that all movies of this type I guess are in the shadow of "Schindler's List" and I was certainly less moved by this noble effort than I perhaps expected to be, certainly compared to Spielberg's monument. In fact if there's a "History Channel" documentary available for perusal on this subject (I know there'a a book) perhaps that would be the better way to appreciate the incredible courage of the Jewish resistance fighters depicted here.