Defiance
Like the director of this week’s “Movie a Week” entry “Patriot Games” (that would be Phillip Noyce), Edward Zwick is a filmmaker who takes politically-charged material and put a Hollywood shine on it- in this case, the novel “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” by Nechama Tec. He’s not always that successful unfortunately. His last film- the Oscar-nominated “Blood Diamond”- took hot topics- genocide and smugglers- and turned it into an escapist thriller (despite strong performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou).
There are times when his latest film- based on the extraordinary true story of a band of Jews in Belorussia who find an existence hiding in the forest in WWII- looks to befall the same fate, falling into some of the same movie heroics rhythms of the likes of “Braveheart” and “The Patriot” (not to dis those flicks; I love them both). But Zwick and co-screenwriter Clayton Frohman rises above that more often than not by dramatizing the tough choices that go into survival on the run. The end result doesn’t quite match Zwick’s best films (“Glory,” “Courage Under Fire”), but it’s certainly enough to rank with his provocative (and unfairly-neglected) terrorism thriller “The Seige,” which has grown more relevant and prophetic since September 11. Unlike another recent WWII film based on a little-known (and extraordinary) story- “Valkyrie”- Zwick rises above pulp tactics and pays tribute to the individuals who acted bravely when wisdom would’ve told them to give up, and put the greater good above themselves.
Daniel Craig is a force of nature as Tuvia Bielski, who along with his brothers Zus (the superb Liev Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell) go home to find their parents murdered by the SS, ratted out by Nazi sympathizers. Where some Jews would have seen hope vanish, the Bielski’s see a declaration of war, and not long after, they’re rescuing and taking in dozens upon dozens of survivors from all over, our only sense of how big Hitler’s Final Solutions was, as Tuvia and Zus form a tenuous alliance with the Russian army, sometimes fighting alongside with them.
The film’s three romantic subplots- one for each of the brothers- feel like Hollywood products (despite being true-to-life) in their execution and integration into the story, but when the film focuses on the suffering of survival for Tuvia’s charge, and the danger of what needs to be done to continue to survive, Zwick creates a portrait of humanity every bit as powerful as his “Glory” was. That makes the action pop with unmanufactured suspense, James Newton Howard’s riveting and mournful score to break your heart, and the actors to bury themselves deep in your memory with their nerve-deep performances. It’s not at the level of “Schindler’s List” or “Munich” in illuminating human tragedy, but Zwick doesn’t exploit his subject for Hollywood sentiment either…not all the time at least.
