Defiance Review- Daniel Craig takes on the Nazis
Great Acting Overcomes All in WWII Jewish Resistance Film
Jan 22, 2009
Ed Zwick, writer, director and producer found the true story of three brothers escaping into the forests of what has been Poland, Russia and is now Belarus most compelling. As the director of Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai and Courage Under Fire, Zwick knows something about compelling. Unfortunately, he can bleed a story of all its life. Pacing is crucial to any film but particularly an action film. Moving from the chess playing pace of the characters debating God to the rapid fire scenes of vengeance can not only be jarring to viewers but chops up the flow of the film. And so it is up to the actors to overcome the direction.
Daniel Craig steps out of his 007 character and shows much more depth.
Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber are up to the task and succeed in making the storyline of their fraternal battle more vital than the Jews versus the Nazis story. When the Bielski brothers discover that their family has been killed by German collaborators, they escape to the forests to plot revenge. Tuvia (Craig) careens between revenge as violence and revenge as survival. Zus (Schreiber) doesn’t have that dilemma. Violence is his only answer.
Watching the evolution of the small band of Jews in the forest change from survival of a few to a growing community is essential to the story but it slows down the action that Zwick excels at. Exploring the concept of war time collaboration permeates the film but also slows the pace. At what point do the leaders of the Jewish ghetto cross the line from protecting their people to just saving their own skins? Is fighting with the Russian partisans protecting the Jews or trading one bigoted master for another?
The numerous conflicts in Defiance almost provide too many questions.
Not that most viewers are going to get lost in these questions for long. The biggest question is going to be when is Daniel Craig going to shed all those layers of clothing with Alexa Davalos, the beautiful woman making eyes at him throughout. Each of the brothers, including Jamie Bell, who shot to fame as the star of Billy Elliot, has a ‘forest wife’ – a common law wife. Iben Hjejle, as Bella, Zus’ forest wife is the most honestly mercenary of the wives. She is after Zus’ protection and is very straight forward about what she is willing to trade for that protection.
If this weren’t a true story, Hollywood would be accused of making it overly dramatic and totally impossible. And Zwick may have embellished a few scenes but Defiance is based on Nechama Tec’s book of the same title. While it isn’t a one man show as Hollywood would have us believe, the battle between Tuvia and Zus is made all the better by Craig and Schreiber. Rated R, Defiance runs 137 minutes.
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