Defiance
posted December 5, 2008 9:58 AM
Reverence is not always fun
Casting Daniel Craig as a Jewish resistance leader is a gamble: he's got the brawn of a hero, but the Teutonic chill of the Third Reich. As Belorussian Tuvia Bielski, Craig channels both James Bond and Vladimir Putin. (The latter—a world leader obsessed with distributing beefcake photos of himself, topless, clutching a deer rifle—might have fought Craig for the part.) In all other ways, Edward Zwick plays it safe in this heavy, true-enough historical drama about the Bielski partisans—a band of four brothers who headed to the forest during the Nazi invasion of Belarus and saved over 1,200 of their fellow survivors from extermination. As solemn as a bell toll and nearly as dull, by sheer heft it will intimidate well-meaning audiences to pay their respects at the box office.
When the Nazis overran the Bielski's motherland, one million Jews were either deported to camps or killed. In truth, it's miraculous the four brothers—stoic Tuvia (Craig), furious Zus (Liev Schreiber), tremulous Asael (Jamie Bell), and baby Aron (George MacKay) survived when the local police (inspired by the Germans) shot everything alive on their farm from their parents to their sheep. "We may be hunted like animals, but we are not animals," growls Tuvia, and the thrust of the beginning stretch of the film comes from his efforts to convince Zus that when it comes to sharing their food with other stragglers, their only choices are impracticality or inhumanity.
Everyone in Zwick and Clayton Frohman's script speaks in Big Ideas. This isn't a subtle film (true, few World War II pictures are) and the dialogue is mainly limited to proclamations and an endless supply of people barking "We must—!" or "We must never—!" Zwick's intentions are good. He says that one of his main motivations behind the film was to correct the schoolbook image of Jewish victims passively succumbing to their fates. Yet, he handholds the audience as though fretful we might watch this unheralded tale of nobility and strength and somehow come out in favor of the Holocaust. The film is far more interesting when it cops to the complexity of the Bielskis' struggle: Steal or starve. Be merciful or be targeted. Tuvia's practical, but painful camp laws aren't stretched until their moral fibers fray. His ban on pregnancy is tested, but by a blameless mother-to-be who suffered rape at the hands of Germans. Zwick is sharp enough to show Tuvia and his men making nasty choices -- for example killing an Aryan mistress caught in crossfire, or beating to death a German soldier who begs to go home to his wife and children -- but blood never sticks to their hands or their souls. As a result, it never sticks to ours and doesn't thicken this handsome period piece into anything so dark and sour as a masterpiece.
Distributor: Paramount Vantage
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell and George MacKay
Director: Edward Zwick
Writers: Edward Zwick and Clayton Frohman, based on the book by Nechama Tec
Producers: Pieter Jan Brugge and Edward Zwick
Genre: Drama
Rating: Rated R for violence and language.
Running time: 137 min.
Release date: December 31 ltd., January 16 WIDE
9 Comments
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Astor G. said:
Everything about this film smells of Oscar Bait and really stale bait as well. Is anybody besides me tired of the steady stream of Holocaust-based movies? We see them in the theatres, they are always on this History Channel. Enough Already. Who are these films supposed to appeal to anymore?
January 16, 2009 7:20 AM
Francesca P. said:
To Astor G: Since I haven't seen this film yet-- I will-- I have no opinion to offer. (I know, that doesn't stop others from offering theirs. It sounds as if you haven't seen it either.)
I just thought I'd answer the last question. These films, and the novels, essays, poems, and books of nonfiction on the era are all "supposed to appeal" to thinking humans who continue to ponder the nature of humankind, what we owe one another, and how we might prevent this happening again.
The Holocaust began with a lot of good feeling and volks-y nationalism. We could easily get there again if we let down our vigilance. It seems to me your attitude is precisely the kind-- thinking this all PAST and IRRELEVANT-- that puts us in danger.
I speak as a professor of the literature and film of war.
January 16, 2009 12:16 PM
sam l. said:
Astor- Listen to Franscesca P. and think really big before you wonder who the movie may "appeal" to. Maybe the lessons of the Holocaust are worth examining, reaexaming and viewing from a different perspective? I haven't seen the film yet, but check out today's USATODAY article on Zwick to see why he made the film. Maybe this film can give you some insight into contemporary issues like the Middle East situation? If you want to stick with Terminator or Rocky 1-9 for entertainment, that's your choice. Nice comment Francesca.
January 16, 2009 5:06 PM
BUD said:
I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE---- IT NEEDS TO BE SEEN AND REMEMBERED AS A LESSON FOR FUTURE BEHAVIOUR SO THAT MANKIND CAN SURVIVE EVEN WITH OUR SHORTCOMINGS.
January 18, 2009 10:40 AM
Bonnie M. said:
We will have "enough" Holocaust films after six million stories are told.
January 18, 2009 6:09 PM
Desiree V said:
There can never be enough Holocaust films. We must never forget those lives lost, those innocent and those who fought to stop the horrific actions of the Nazi's. I have seen the film (as well as the History channels program, where they had one of the Bielski brothers giving commentary, which led me to watch the film(thank you Bonnie M.))and love that it is based on true events and real people. The story of the Bielskis' struggle and bravery to save lives had to be shown. Those decendants of the Bielski's and other survivors of the forest deserve to see such amazing actors tell this story of defiance. Astor G. we all need to learn from history and know that it does repeat itself.
January 26, 2009 2:08 AM
Simon said:
There can never be enough Holocaust films. We must never forget those lives lost, those innocent and those who fought to stop the horrific actions of the Nazi's.
There are more Nazi's.out there who must be stoped now before it is too late. People must understand that.
February 1, 2009 1:42 PM
kileer said:
the Holocaust are worth examining, reaexaming and viewing from a different perspective? I haven't seen the film yet, but check out يوتيوب today's USATODAY article on Zwick to see why he made the film. Maybe this film can give you some insight
March 21, 2009 9:42 PM
tsedeke said:
i haven't seen this movie but i will soon see it. i always be touched by the holocoust movies. everybody must remember people passed in that horrifing events at world war II.
May 18, 2009 5:26 AM