It’s hard to say Hollywood makes too many Holocaust movies when a story as important as the one told in “Defiance” is just now hitting theaters.
The new film, from “Blood Diamond” director Edward Zwick, retells the remarkable tale of the Bielski brothers, a pair of Jews who fought back against the Nazis from the woods of Belarus.
So why is Zwick’s latest so lackluster between the action sequences?
Daniel Craig stars as Bielski, Tuvia Bielski, a Jew who flees when German troops raid his town. He and his brother, Zus (Liev Schreiber) end up in the woods, a place they think the Nazis won’t find them.
But they aren’t alone. Little by little other fleeing Jews join them, and while there aren’t enough supplies to feed them all, the brothers can’t turn them away.
The hardscrabble survivors start building a new community right there in the woods, working together to feed one another and keep their new home safe. Their tranquility doesn’t last long, and the choices they make when their refuge is discovered reveals plenty about both the brothers and the ability to persevere under dire circumstances.
“Defiance” trots out some thorny moral issues — is violence always justified? how can you not fight back against such atrocities? But the characters meant to hammer home these points fall far short. The script lacks insight and passion, and every 20 minutes a hackneyed romantic subplot blossoms without warning or reason.
The bickering brothers never gain our sympathy, although Craig commandeers the screen as the community’s unelected leader.
“Defiance” is too good a story to inspire a mediocre movie, but the film version teeters uncomfortably close to that label at times.
(Photo: Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski and Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski in “Defiance,” opening wide Jan. 16. (c) 2008 by Paramount Vantage, a division of Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. Photo by Karen Ballard)
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