Based on real brothers saving Jews in Nazi Germany.

Rating: Null/10 (26 June 2009)

The Bielski brothers were real, Jews in Germany, who defied the Nazi regime to live in the forest for several years during WW2 and developing a community that continually grew. There is a good DVD extra which shows some of the modern day ancestors of these survivors.
We enjoyed the movie, it is a worthwhile story and the acting is superb. It DOES require lots of patience at times with its running time of over 2 hours.
Daniel Craig stars as Tuvia Bielski who becomes the leader of the forest community. Liev Schreiber plays his brother Zus Bielski, and initially they are at odds with each other. Zus is more militant, wants to hunt down and kill all the Germans he can, while Tuvia is more of a peace maker. So Zus and several others actually go away to join the fighting with a Russian band.
Jamie Bell is good as the younger, third brother, Asael Bielski. Alexa Davalos is good as Lilka Ticktin who eventually becomes bonded with Tuvia.
There are no big surprises here, just a solid movie about the hunted Jews building a forest community and surviving in the forest during the war. If they had been in concentration camps instead they likely would all have been killed.