Home > Drama >

Defiance

Watch Now

Defiance (2008)

December. 31,2008
|
7.1
|
R
| Drama Action History War
Watch Now

Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

Cubussoli
2008/12/31

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

More
Nonureva
2009/01/01

Really Surprised!

More
Sexylocher
2009/01/02

Masterful Movie

More
Fatma Suarez
2009/01/03

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

More
FountainPen
2009/01/04

What was the director thinking, really? I believe he made so many fundamental errors that it is hard to accept from an apparently seasoned professional. Must say this is more the part that Daniel Craig fits into, than James Bond which requires a smooth, suave man. The rough'n'tumble and craggy old Craig indeed looks the part in this flick, though his acting is lacking, lightweight, unconvincing. The whole movie has a feeling of failure about it. One series of scenes involving violent blood & shooting action was ridiculously handled, almost in a Keystone Kops fashion. I couldn't figure out why the characters were speaking Russian, when the film is set in Poland. Who knows? Does the director? Do the actors? Really, a waste of time, but I have resisted rating lower than 3 out of respect for the events portrayed, even though they were portrayed poorly.

More
Leonard Kniffel
2009/01/05

There is no limit to my interest in films about World War II, so I am not sure how an interesting movie like Defiance did not catch my attention until eight years after it was made. The film succeeds on many levels in its effort to dispel the notion that all the murdered Jews of Europe went to their deaths without a fight. By dramatizing the true story of the four Bielski brothers and the formation of their community of partisans, Defiance pays tribute at last to this successful effort that saved 1,236 men, women, and children from the Nazi death camps and sent a significant number of their persecutors to their own deaths. For me, the problem with this movie is its handling of history, namely the complete omission of Poland from the narrative. You can almost hear director Edward Zwick trying to untangle the complicated net of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and political loyalties that ripped Poland to shreds as Germany and Russia plotted to divide the nation and exterminate any people who did not fit into their plan for world domination. Zwick's solution? Leave Poland out of the film entirely. The problem with this simplified rendition of history is that it is simply wrong. The Bielski family were Polish Jews. The community the real brothers built in the forests was in the vicinity of Nowogródek in a portion of German-occupied Poland that was annexed by the Soviet Union and made part of Belarus after the war.Of course, this is not a documentary film, any more than Shakespeare's history plays are documentaries. Defiance is based on a true story, but it is a fictionalized account, featuring outstanding performances by Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber. Not a word of Polish is spoken by anyone in the film, which features dialogue in English, Russian, and German.For historical accounts, better to read two recent English-language books about the Bielski partisans: Defiance (1993) by Nechama Tec and The Bielski Brothers (2004) by Peter Duffy. A book (2009) in Polish by two reporters from Gazeta Wyborcza, Odwet: Prawdziwa historia braci Bielskich (Revenge: The True Story of the Bielski Brothers) focuses on the political and historical context in which the partisans operated, specifically the fighting between Polish and Soviet resistance groups in the Kresy (former Eastern Poland) region.

More
Ole Sandbaek Joergensen
2009/01/06

This is a beautiful movie in many ways, also a very violent and sad one.The story in itself is a good one, it has it all, friendship, love (both brotherly and family), fighting, war and a lot more.The sceneries are very good, there are scenes in the forest that are really special and beautiful but only in the quiet moments. The war scenes are very rough and dirty as they should be.The cast is very good in this movie and to see a good danish actor in it was, well actually a surprise, I didn't know Iben Hjejle was in this one. I'm not a big history fan, but movies that are good, based on true events always make me want to find out more and read up-on-it :)

More
LeonLouisRicci
2009/01/07

Through the Foggy Lense of History the True Story told by Survivors and Historians vary Wildly. Accused of Their Own despicable atrocities trying to Survive deplorable conditions in the Wilderness, the Bielski Resistance is Currently in Heated Dispute about Their Actual Fighting and Activities.Depending on what Source You seek out there will be an Enormous Amount of Partisanship and Opinions. The Film takes the Positive Nuggets Uncovered in the frustrating ability to Pin-Down the Accuracy of such a Tumultuous and Tragic Era of Human Suffering.Putting Aside the Historical Truth (if there is such a thing) and Reviewing the Film as a Film, an Attempt at an Enlightening Entertainment, it is a rather Well-Made, Interesting, and Inspiring Movie.The Director Edward Zwick is not Shy about using Modern Movie Flourishes of Action, varying Film-Speed and Camera Hi-Jinx to Heighten the already Dramatic War Battles. He uses this to accelerate the pulse.Also, with the Over-Use of Violins pulling the Heartstrings, Zwick spares no amount of Hollywood Ness to make the Movie Watchable amongst the Truly Depressing Suffering.Overall, Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, along with Jamie Bell make this a Well-Acted, Controversial Film, that is Worth a Watch. But to find out just what Really Happened might be as Frustrating as the Filmmakers Pretensions and in the Final Analysis only Guilty of what most of History is, "...a set of lies agreed upon." (Napoleon)

More