Defiance

Saw this just after seeing Inglourious Basterds. Two films about Jews fighting back against the Nazis and their collaborators. IG is pure imagination whereas Ed Zwick's Defiance is based on a true story. I kept seeing this preview in theatres. It would show up before a feature, then disappear for a while, then months later show up again. I assumed they kept changing the release date and based on the final product I am guessing there may have been some issues. The film stars Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell as the Bielski brothers who end up being the saviors of 1200 Jews whom they hid and protected in the forests of Belorussia from 1941-1944. It really is an amazing story and the director, players and crew bring their A game to telling it but I kept finding myself slipping out of the film. Of course I kept tripping myself up with movie cliches as they appeared. Tuvia and Lilka lie in bed of their makeshift hut bathed in yellow light (not previously seen in the film) wrapped in each others arms. Lilka: "You saved my life." Tuvia: "No. You saved mine." Cliches aside, Craig is great as he always is and Schreiber is solid. Zwick and his screenwriter bring a lot of philosophy to the film which made it more than just an action film or true life tale. I was moved by the characters as they tried to work through what it was for a Jew to not only live, but to be free in a world that demanded your extermination. The discourse was a bit clunky, but at times claustrophobia set in even in the forest as they tried to work out how to stay civilized in the face of the barbarism playing out around them and the barbarians hunting them down.
Memorable moment: The final battle sequence - I was shocked they survived!