Defiance

Edward Zwick is a director who has come, over twenty years, to be easily identified by his work, but that's not necessarily a good thing. His films tend to be sweeping human stories set against a historic back-drop, with noble characters resisting or rebelling against an evil, monolithic authority. Starting with Glory, which is his best film, through Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai, and Blood Diamond, Zwick's work is the kind that pegs him as a well-intentioned liberal with a simple-minded approach to story. Defiance, his latest, falls squarely in this milieu.

The film tells the story of the Bielski brothers, who lived in Belarus during World War II. As Jews were being rounded up and shipped off to death camps, the brothers, who were ne'er-do-wells, headed off into the woods to hide from the Nazis, as well as local police who were collaborating. Eventually they took on more and more followers, and a small society grew in the woods, but always under the threat that the enemy would find them.

It's a good story in the tradition of Schindler's List, but at least this time the Jews are relying on themselves, not a saintly Christian. They are also tough sons of bitches, aware that Jews aren't commonly thought of as fighters (the eventual track record of the Israeli Army would permanently put that myth to bed). Liev Schreiber is the middle brother, who has no compunction about retaliating and killing the enemy. The youngest brother, Jamie Bell, is more unseasoned. The oldest brother, Daniel Craig, is willing to kill, but sees surviving as the best revenge.

As the Bieskis and their partisans set up a community in the forest, certain problems arise, some of them predictable. Schreiber decides he wants action, and leaves to join the Russian army. Romantic situations arise, as biology dictates, and the group becomes a microcosm of larger societies and there are turf wars. Some of this is handled well, other times it's in an obvious, tone-deaf manner. One bad scene has Craig addressing his charges on a white horse, and I flashed back to Mel Gibson in Braveheart. But his relationship with the woman who would become his wife, the lovely Alexa Davalos, is handled with admirable restraint.

One thing you can count on in a Zwick picture--it looks great. Twice cinematographers from Zwick films have won Oscars (Glory and Legends of the Fall), and the photography in Defiance, by Eduardo Serra, is stunning. It is mostly in shades of washed out blues--though the film takes place almost entirely in a forest there's very little verdant about it.

Ultimately Zwick falls prey to his usual pattern and the film is let down. The film climaxes with a march through a bog, but one wonders where exactly they expect they are going--won't the Nazis find them on the other side of the bog (they have planes, after all)? It's not like the von Trapps going from Austria to Switzerland. And then there is an attack by a German tank that reminds one of an old Western, with cavalry coming to the rescue. Zwick appears to never have met a cliche he didn't like.

Overall Defiance is passable entertainment. I imagine little of it is historically accurate, but it tugs at the heartstrings frequently. In the category of recent World War II movies, I liked it more than I did Valkyrie.