13th May, 2009

DAVID ADAMS

Defiance (M)

In a word: Incredible

BROTHERS IN ARMS: Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Tuvia (Daniel Craig). "Sure, there’s been criticisms that the film is too simplistic - the ending certainly seems a little fantastic - but it does give an insight, in broad strokes, into what is an incredible story of survival with the closing titles telling how at the war’s end, some 1200 Jews emerged alive from the forest."

Appearing amid a rash of World War II and Holocaust-related films, Defiance - which is based on a true story - tells the amazing tale of Jewish brothers who become reluctant heroes when the Germans invade their homeland of Belorussia in 1941.

Directed by Edward Zwick of Glory and Blood Diamond fame, Defiance follows the story of the Bielski brothers who, soon after the German invasion, find themselves hiding out in the forest while the rest of the Jewish community is murdered or forced into ghettos.

James Bond star Daniel Craig plays the eldest brother Tuvia (a role for which he is infinitely more suited than that of Bond) while, in a role not completely dissimilar to that he plays in Wolverine, Liev Schreiber plays his fiery younger brother Zus.

Hiding out in the forest, the brothers soon find themselves joined by a seemingly endless stream of Jewish refugees eager to escape the Nazis and they soon find themselves struggling to balance their desire to wreak revenge upon the German invaders with the need to protect those who have come under their care.

The dilemma leads to a split and Zus soon leaves to join with some Russian partisans, also running a campaign of resistance from a forest hideout. Tuvia, meanwhile, turns his attention to building a new community and before long the forest hideout has been transformed into a small town where love is blossoming among some of the inhabitants including between one of the Bielski’s younger brothers Asael (played by Jamie Bell), and his love Chaya (Mia Wasikowska) and Tuvia and his aristocratic love Lilka (Alexa Davalos).

Ongoing pressure from the oppressive winter weather, German patrols, and internal politics however, means that something’s eventually got to give and the brother’s soon find their lives once more intertwined as the film takes some dramatic twists.

Defiance moves at a fast pace and there’s plenty of suspense but there is also time to enjoy the small moments of life in the camp - which Zwick does well to capture amid the bigger picture, although some of these are a little contrived - and the beautiful scenery (the film was apparently shot in Lithuania, not far from the place where the actual events occurred).

Sure, there’s been criticisms that the film is too simplistic - the ending certainly seems a little fantastic - but it does give an insight, in broad strokes, into what is an incredible story of survival with the closing titles telling how at the war’s end, some 1200 Jews emerged alive from the forest.

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