A Movie That Defies Expectations

Rating: 8/10 (13 April 2020)

I recently got around to watching Edward Zwick's 2008 film, Defiance. A World War 2 era historical action movie featuring big time actors such as Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, it had my hopes high heading into it. Zus (Schreiber) and Tuvia (Craig), along with their 2 younger brothers, move into the woods of Belorussia after their hometown is raided by Nazis, killing their father and countless other Jews. Slowly, a community of other Jewish survivors begins to grow. Tensions over how leadership should act leads to a split, and the camp begins to have issues. Craig and Schreiber both have amazing performances, and really are able to show the viewer this tension without having to completely rely on dialogue.
One issue I did have with this movie is that I believe it underutilized the youngest brother. I fell as though he could've acted as more of a moral compass and a glue that keeps the oldest brothers grounded. I also didn't like the effects that they used when Zus was stealing the medicine. It threw me off and made it difficult for me to keep track of. On the other hand, I did enjoy the effect they used to show Tuvia's dimmed senses during the German bombing. Also, the movie did a good job showing the rise of the second youngest brother, Asael (Jamie Bell).
Overall, I think this was a sound movie that featured some great performances from some great actors. I would recommend this to any fan of this genre of film.