Defiance

2008. Dir: Ed Zwick. Starring: Daniel Criag, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos and Allan Corduner. ●●○○○

Last week, when I reviewed Che:Part 1, I spoke of the difficulties that are faced when distinguishing the film from the subject in biopics. Che Guevera is a hero to so many people it is virtually impossible to seperate the myth from the man, so Soderbergh and Del Toro focused on the minutea that makes Che tick rather than the broader strokes. Defiance is also based on a true story, that of the Bielski brothers who led a community of Jewish refugees in the forests of Belarus, and like Soderbergh Ed Zwick focusses on the lifestyle and hardships endured by the partisans during that first winter and spring following their escape from the Nazi's.

Unlike Che Guevera the story of the Bielski's is virtually unknown. As Zwick himself has said: "You have these chapters of history that get lost. Sometimes that's down to political agendas or because mythologies are created. Ideas and events that are contradictory to those myths often disappear. That's what's happened here. The image of European Jews going passively to their deaths is inaccurate. We hope this film corrects that view, while also exploring the specifics of the Bielski story."

We know so little about the background to the Bielski brothers going into the movie that the differing ideologies and reactions of Tuvia (Craig) and Zus (Schreiber) seem arbitrary rather than the logical conclusions based on the character motivations. Why does Tuvia carry out and tolerate acts of barbarity and torture whilst condemning Zus' desire to fight guerilla style tactics against the Nazi occupiers? Why do the brothers react in such diverse ways when confronted with the news that their respectives wives have been murdered?



The greatest crime of all about this lack of depth to the characters means that we do not care why they are reacting in the way they do. Here is a incredible piece of 20th century history neutered by the flat characterisations of the two brothers. Only Jamie Bell, as the younger brother Asael, seems to be at all plausable; ably projecting his grief at the loss of his parents and his doubt over the right path to follow.

It is hard to know who's to blame for this. Craig's performance is all over the place (much like his on-off case of thyphoid) but you can see Schreiber trying hard. You could possibly blame the writing - was enough background present in Clayton Frohman's (Under Fire, The Delinquents) early drafts? By the way you read Frohman's prevous credits correctly.

Personally I'm laying the blame squarely at Zwick's door. As a co-writer and director he seems to just want to take a background story he feels ought to be told and then tack it to a formulaic plotline complete with a love affair for every brother and an obligatory fog battle scene (see also Glory and The Last Samurai). What he doesn't seem to be able to do is transfer his enthusiasm and interest to the screen.

Not that it's all bad. Allan Corduner and Mark Feuerstein make an excellent greek chorus, even if the ultimately fate of their stereotypially bickering intellegentsia is clear early on. Eduardo Serra has a fine eye for the natural seeming light in the coniferous forests, especially in the snow.

Extra kudos goes to Trefor Proud and the Make-up team. Not only do they make a realistic and beleievable job of the malnutrition and sickness pervading the camp but they all hit on the idea that Daniel Craig's eyes look even more sexy when he's covered in mud.