Defying the odds?

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2009)

The first time I saw the trailer for this movie I was sold.
The story takes place during WW2 in which three Polish brothers Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig), Zus (Leiv Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell) escape the Nazi invasion of Poland by escaping to the vast forest of Belarus, along with various other escapees they meet along the way.
The opening scenes of the movie were very uncomfortable to watch - they were in black and white and looked as if it were original footage from the 40's. I am to lazy to research whether or not it was, but they were effective as seeing prisoners getting shot at close range by the Nazi soldiers was very unsettling.
After this we jump straight into the movie with Zus heading home with Asael only to find their parents killed and they escape to the forest with another younger brother and meet up with Tuvia. Here is where they decide to hide.
Zus and Tuvia disagree about the growing number of refugees joining their group, which is growing at a rapid pace and eventually Zus leaves the Bielski group and joins the Russian Army who are stationed nearby.
The three main characters are all very well cast. Jamie Bell is fine as the younger brother caught between his two older brothers while Craig and Schreiber play well against each other. Schreiber is actually the best actor in the whole movie - you actually would not be surprised if his character defeated the entire Nazi party on his own. This bodes extremely well for Wolverine which is released in May 2009!!
The supporting cast unfortunately are not worth mentioning at all. They are all predicable bit players that lack complete originality. The old intellectual and the young intellectual who bicker constantly until a respectable friendship grows, the pretty girl, the feisty girl, the jerk, the pregnant one, the one who risks his life to save the main character etc, etc, etc.
The Russian army made a few appearances and were the usual crazy, furry hat wearing, vodka drinking Russians that are usually portrayed in film. The most annoying thing about the Russian army is that they all spoke in Russian, a sure sign that a movie has a misguided view of its own brilliance, while the rest of the cast spoke in an Eastern European accents.
The movie did play as very serious and rightly so but there was some brotherly bonding moments which added a few minutes of light hearted relief to proceedings.
One scene that did not play well at all was Tuvia giving his "going into battle outnumbered but we shall be victorious" speech on a pure white horse to a group of terrified weaponless villagers. The scene is very overused and here is was very out of place and ridiculously cheesy.
The action when it appeared was quite brutal but it did not overshadow the story of the people living in Bielskis camp which was the main focus of the movie. The community struggling through the winter and their increasing desperation for food were uncomfortable to watch.
I would give it an 7/10. It just lacked that extra special something that puts it up there with the great war movies. A good effort though in telling the untold story of a family that saved more Jewish refugees during WW2 that Schindler.