Defiance Review

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PROJEKT iVIEW   | Talking-Points | January 19, 2009 at 11:35 am       Print this article!  Print

iView Author: Bipin Vaddi (Boston, U.S.A) Email: bvaddi [at] gmail [dot] com
Defiance Review

It’s an action movie that invites us to contemplate heroism unalloyed by ulterior complications, to believe in an essential goodness in the core of the human heart.

Either you go along with this sort of humanistic storytelling or you don’t, and the sight of Daniel Craig, branded in our imagination as James Bond, atop a white horse tests the limits of our gullibility. Well, Mr. Craig later shoots the animal for meat, we either gasp or giggle.

defiance-1In the fall of 1941 the Nazi occupiers of Western Belorussia near the Polish border began to execute the local Jewish population. The Bielski brothers, Jewish peasant farmers, took to the vast Nalibokiforest, where they eventually established an itinerant community of Jews. But what made the Bielski group different from other Jewish groups that resisted the Nazis was eldest brother Tuvia’s decision that all Jews would be welcome.

Edward Zwick’s direction is good, but the movie as a whole did not hold my attention. At times, I felt it just dragged. The tense scenes have been managed well, but they are far too few and in between. The other not –so tense moments are just about average and nothing outstanding about them. The performances are not powerhouse either, though Craig’s salvages it to some extent.

The director’s previous outings, like Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai have entertained us, but no one confuses them to be great works of art. They are informative and keeps us occupied for some time and have their moments, the same could be said about Defiance too.

defianceAs a simple war movie, Defiance is admittedly better than it is as a message picture. Thanks to a team of high-class collaborators – particularly editor Steven Rosenblum, whose journeyman work has enlivened quite a few combat-heavy movies, several of them directed by Zwick – the film does have a few reasonably effective fighting sequences, saving the very best for last: a man-on-tank set piece that comes terribly close to making us leave the theater convinced that we’ve just seen a real rousing bit of cinema.

Despite some forceful portrayals by several truly great actors, Defiance never once feels authentic. As is emblematic of Zwick’s contemporary work, the movie feels Hollywood slick and far too pretty for the subject matter. Characters run around with perfectly coifed hair and only a few dirty smudges here and there to sell the rugged living.

One of Defiance’s primary faults is its inertia. To survive, while noble, does not make for compelling drama. It is static, not action. Don’t expect anything more than a good informative history lesson . The movie is just average, I wouldn’t name it a stinker, nor an amazing must watch. It probably is a good DVD watch.

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6 Comments

  1. Ratnakar Sadasyula Ratnakar Sadasyula says:
    January 19, 2009 at 6:40 pm

    I have seen most of Zwick’s movies Glory, The Siege, Legends of the Fall, Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and i think most of them fall in the standard Hollywood epic category.

    Glory, and the Rashomon adaptation Courage Under Fire, were two really great movies. Blood Diamond was good, but not as great as hyped.

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  2. bipin bipin says:
    January 19, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    @ratnakar

    I agree, good movies, but not gr8.
    and I did take your suggestion and watched apna eastwood dada ka “unforgiven” , for the umpteenth. what a movie !!! :)

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  3. bipin bipin says:
    January 19, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    @ratnakar

    I agree, good movies, but not gr8.
    and I did take your suggestion and watched apna eastwood dada ka “unforgiven” , for the umpteenth time. what a movie !!! :)

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  4. Bharat Bhushan Bharat Bhushan says:
    January 19, 2009 at 9:11 pm

    I too have seen most of Zwick movies.Liked Glory,Last samurai,courage under fire..

    I some how like his movies ,may be because his films have a slight melodramatic touch which suits our indian sentiment.

    Denzel’s eyes in Glory had a lasting effect on me.
    Some how feel courage under fire is underrated.never seen anybody discussing it.

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  5. Sougata Sougata says:
    January 20, 2009 at 1:06 am

    Yes, I too personally like Glory and Courage Under Fire best. Followed by The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond. His movies are always very visually attractive and often are more than good dramas. But they have that big studio produced air about them.

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