Movie review: Defiance

by John P. Meyer

I wish I could tell you that Defiance is as action-packed and gripping as its trailer might lead one to believe, but I could only do that by fibbing - and there's no excuse for that kind of behavior among friends. The truth is this: Edward Zwick's semi-historical WWII Nazi-fighting resistance drama - clocking in at 137 minutes - seems about a half-hour longer than it ought to be.

Yes, Defiance is another of the string of Nazi-slash-Holocaust-themed movies that have proliferated on theater screens across the country (and elsewhere) this season - but at least it takes a different-ish sort of approach to the topic: in this film the Jews get to kick some Nazi ass.

Zwick's story is suggested by the real-life exploits of a band of Belarusian brothers (three in number) named Bielski, who retreat into the arboreal vastness bordering their family farm when their parents are shot to death by Nazi-collaborating local militia.

The three brothers are Asael (Jamie Bell), Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Tuvia (Daniel Craig), in ascending order of age, and they are of divergent opinions about how to proceed now that the fabric of their lives has been ripped to shreds. When they encounter a small troupe of refugees from a nearby community in straits similar to their own (i.e., wandering homeless through the forest, hiding for their lives), Tuvia wants to take them under wing, while Zus - arguably more practical-minded at this stage of affairs - suggests that they simply leave them to their own recognizance. The presence amongst this troupe of young beauty Chaya (Mia Wasikowska) turns Asael to Tuvia's way of thinking, and the Bielski band acquires its first followers.

After coming into possession of an antique pistol and four bullets (obtained, along with provisions, from the farmstead of a benevolent neighbor who lives just long enough to regret his benevolence), Tuvia pays a dinnertime visit to the house of the local collaborating police captain - and leaves three bullets poorer.

Zus, meanwhile, has learned (from another of their growing family of refugees) of the death of his girlfriend. This knowledge works a transformative change on his personality: he becomes obsessed with exacting revenge by killing as many Nazi soldiers as he can set his sights on. Zus takes to killing like a kid to peppermint candy; following each new encounter with contingents of enemy soldiers, the Bielski's weapons and ammunition cache increases.

Problematically, so do their ranks, as more and more city-bred Jews stream into the forest out of desperation. (There's nothing quite as pitiful as an intellectual trying to operate a hammer.) Tuvia, the de facto leader of the group, advocates a policy of fair play in dealings with nearby farmers and merchants - Zus disagrees, and thinks they should be operating as raiders rather than friendly forest brethren. When Tuvia's above-board approach backfires and their trading partners begin squealing on them to the Nazis, Tuvia and Zus have an irrevocable falling out that ends in near fratricide. Zus leaves the camp along with a few warlike followers to join a cadre of Russian military operating behind enemy lines.

Thus begins the rather tedious middle portion of the movie, during which we are shown how difficult mere survival can be for a large group of singularly under-rationed civilians in the harsh Belarusian winter. We see perhaps more than we care to see of Daniel Craig's vulnerable side, as James Bond's cinematic standard bearer loses fist-fights and gets deathly ill. But amid the season's early snowflakes there's a leavening of these dire circumstances in the form of a wedding, where hopeful tradition comes into play and the promise of renewal finds brief thready voice.

During this segment, Tuvia makes a romantic connection with a lovely refugee from the city named Lilka (Alexa Davalos). Their story serves as something of a welcome diversion from the harsh conditions so much in evidence, and the struggle of the desperate band to simply survive, much less outfox the Germans.

A prevalent theme running through the film involves class prejudice and its resiliency even within the ranks of those who are themselves deemed outcasts. While the displaced townsfolk and university scholars appreciate the survival skills evidenced by the Bielski brothers, they still consider them beneath their class when it comes to matters such as marriage. (At least, initially.) In similar fashion, Zus finds that his status as a fierce fighter amongst his new Russian mates does not afford him the respect of a place at their officers' vodka bar.

But, as always, war proves the great equalizer, and in a final epic flight to evade the encircling Nazi pincers, freedom fighters come together under the banner of...

Ah, never mind. Just pass the vodka.

The cinematography is breathtaking - the movie was filmed in Lithuania, which is just north of the Belarus region chronicled. We get a good feel for how easy it would be for a large group of people to disappear from civilization altogether (it's a heavily-forested wilderness, apparently), and - thanks to the winter scenes - we also vicariously shiver from the cold and snow. After two plus hours spent in these virtual woods, it's almost culture shock stepping out into the hubbub of urban surroundings.