Early review of "Defiance"

This is certainly a nice surprise. After such "meh" offerings like Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai I was beginning to think that Ed Zwick had completely lost it. Looks as though I'm wrong....

Source: NukeTheFridge.com

"Defiance" is an intelligent movie about the human spirit with Oscar worthy performances.

Written by Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick, who also directed was based on a little known true story("Defiance: the Bielski Partisians") of the courageous Bielski brothers during the invasion of Poland by the German army in 1941 and how these three simple farmers became freedom fighters saving 1,200 lives while living in the forest.

Film opens with the entire Bieski family having been killed by the Nazi's. Tuvia(Daniel Craig) and Zus(Liev Schreiber) discover their little brother Asael(Jamie Bell) as the only survivor hidden under the floorboards of the family farm with the help from a Polish neighbor.

Here they take refuge in the forest while being hunted by the Polish police that have a bounty on all Jewish people by the Nazi's. It isn't long before other refugees arrive looking towards Tuvia and Zus as their saviors and leaders building a small, hidden community deep in the forest.

With competing leadership problems between the two elder brothers, Zus takes a group of followers to fight with the Russian army while Tuvia stays to lead his encampment.

Director Zwick tells the story of their plight through powerful, haunting images and a solid story behind this film. Every actor pushes the envelope in their skills on the screen. Many will say that yes, Daniel Craig is James Bond, but he is such a talented actor that he's absorbed into the character of Tuvia as does Liev Schrieber with their incredible, tour de force performances. I foresee Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations, respectfully, for both of these men along with Best Film and Best Director for Zwick.

The cinematography by Eduardo Serra is breathtaking capturing the intense situation of the dramatic story. The beautiful, emotionally charged music reflects the theme of this powerful movie in happy times as well as sad.

At a running time of two hours, the film is fast paced and the audience is caught up in the plight of these people never glamorizing war, yet showing what people would do to have to survive against tyranny and oppression.

One haunting image comes to mind is where a young German soldier is captured and brought into the camp by the youngest brother, Asael, after a successful attack against Nazi forces. The people in the camp begin to yell and scream at him blaming the by for all the trouble and death of their loved ones as Tuvia just observes without interfering. Clearly, you can see he's just a frightened kid; maybe the same age as Asael.

The elder; a scholarly teacher with wisdom, shows mercy on the boy and says that if he promises not reveal their location, that they'll let him go. For one brief moment, you see Tuvia about to show the same compassion when the entire group converges on the soldier and physically beat him to death.

You see everything through Tuvia's eyes without any dialogue as he decides to let the people take the matter into their hands in Darwinian terms as he walks over to a crying Asael who never thought this would happen. Its such a powerful scene depicting the horrors of war without any words between the actors and an image that will stay with their viewer long after they've left the theater.

"Defiance" is a dynamic, captivating film that will emotionally involve you and without question, one of the best movies I've seen all year.