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History according to Hollywood, is a little like the
claims made on food items in the supermarket. In other words,
while the hype on the packaging brags that no matter what
you eat is good for you, the ingredient labels may indicate
otherwise. In the same way, especially since nobody ever
seems to be a villain in their own life story, personal
accounts of historical events, as in the WW II drama Defiance,
may often be suspect, and laden with problematic content
like biases, grudges, and extreme characters one way or
the other.***
Directed and co-written by Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond,
The Last Samurai) and based on the book,=2 0Defiance: The
Bielski Partisans, by historian Nechama Tec, the film relates
the actual and little known heroic account of the three
Polish Bielski brothers, who fled their Belarus town into
the forest during the Nazi invasion and massacre of Jews
there. Determined and resourceful, though often at odds
with one another, the three Jewish siblings - Tuvia (Daniel
Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber) and kid brother Asael (Jamie
Bell) figure out how to survive in the rugged wilderness
for the duration.***
Eventually the trio are joined by other Jewish civilians
fleeing the Nazis. And though they're at first reluctant
to share and expand their secret encampment and the little
food they're able to round up, while making themselves more
vulnerable to discovery by the Germans and their many local
collaborators alike as their population grows, these accidental
partisans eventually turn the ragtag tribe into a highly
functioning settlement. Including the establishment of a
hospital and militia, and skilled production and repair
centers.***
There's a little romance on the sly too occasionally,
and some comic relief provided by intellectuals who've got
lots to say but little to contribute in the way of survival
skills. And a few fascinating detours into class conflict
on a microcosmic scale, as a social elite that once snubbed
the brothers in town, are now forced to be dependent on
them for their continued existence. The creation of this
survivalist collective as a symbol of the future establishment
of Israel, is an evident allegory intimated by Zwick.***
These many enormously powerful details of Defiance combine
to create a fascinating historical epic. What the production
didn't need, was an excess of either saintly or wicked warrior
melodrama, grating simulated Eastern European accents, and
a far too repetitive conflict between the more laid back
political animal Tuvia and ready to rumble ruthless fighter
Zus, perhaps internalizing the Nazi methods he himself endured,
until we more than get the point. And a few contradictory
sidebars tossed in, including the portrayal of the caricatured
Red Army as a bunch of drunken, immoral louts, when in fact
the Soviets lost 20 million of their own population in WW
II, while resisting and defeating the Nazis. Something the
West was not too keen on acknowledging, until the end of
the Soviet Union and the Red Scare. And if the Red Army
was so dismissive and contemptuous towards Zus, why did
he in real life leave the camp to join up with them until
his death in battle against the Germans.***
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