“We may be hunted like animals, but we will not become animals.”- Tuvia Bielski- Defiance

 

When I first found out I would be reviewing DefianceI immediately did some research into the history of the events the movie portrayed. Like a large portion of the populous, until seeing this film I had never heard of the Bielski brothers or their actions during WWII, and when seeing a movie “based on a true story” I can’t help but want to know how much of it Hollywood got right. So, I looked up everything I could find on the actual events, and armed with this information, settled down to watch the film.

 

For starters let me say that I was by no means expecting faithful adherence to the events. This was after all a film meant to entertain, not a documentary, liberties would be taken to alleviate the need for extensive back story etc. and of course the desire to keep the action moving and the audience constantly engaged would come into play. I was therefore quite pleased to find that despite the necessary changes that were made to the historical facts, the essence of the story came across perfectly.

 

The historical facts that did make it into the script, and subsequently how well they were portrayed by the actors, were well done. For example, the difference in response by Tuvia (Daniel Craig) and Zus (Liev Schreiber) to the news that their wives had been killed showed great insight into both the history and psyche of the two brothers. When Zus hears of the death of his wife and infant daughter he reacts violently and passionately. This not only holds true with historical accounts of Zus, but is also in context with his character in the film who is constantly seeking to take action and revenge. Tuvia on the other hand responds much more sedately to the news of his wife’s death. By historical accounts, he married her in an attempt to raise the fortunes of his extremely poor family because she owned a profitable shop. It was the type of marriage that was still common in the 1940’s, especially in small rural towns, but the circumstances of it by no means meant Tuvia and his wife didn’t grow to love each other in some manner. Craig’s portrays a muted and somewhat resigned response to the news of her death, but his quiet grief is no less palpable.

 

The film also did a great job with issues like the division that was created between friends and neighbors during the war, and the changes seen in statuses within the social class system prevalent in Jewish society at the time. Friends and neighbors became enemies, fighting over the bare essentials and betraying each other to the enemy. At the same time, the education and wealth that secured a person a high standing in Jewish society were rendered far less valuable than the ability fight, protect, and survive.

 

There were two historical points that I believe diminished the story was in their absence. The most glaring was the omission of any mention of the other Bielski siblings. The Bielski family had 12 children, 10 boys and 2 girls. Only the 4 surviving brothers were mentioned in the film. Historically, the other 8 siblings were killed along with the parents in the attack on the village that is portrayed at the beginning of the film, but the film never mentions them. I would have thought that showing the additional loss would have merely strengthened the atmosphere of bitterness and resolve that the brothers fall into, but for some reason the filmmakers saw fit to omit any mention of the other siblings. The missing element seemed to be the fact that the size of the forest group never seemed to reach the scope it should have. At one point there were over 1,000 people living in the camp, but we never seem to see more than 200. While I understand the logistical and budgetary reasoning that probably went into this decision, it still seems to have lessened the impact of the events, especially when showing the moving of the camp.

 

Both of the main special features on the disk are well worth watching. Return to the Forest: The Making of Defiance was historically enlightening and also quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed hearing from the dialect coach because I was amazed at the accents most of the actors were able to pull off, especially since almost none of them were native speakers of any of the languages.   My favorite of the special features was Children of the Otriad: The Families Speak. Getting to hear accounts directly from Zus and Tuvia Bielski’s children and grandchildren was an extraordinary treat.

 

The DEFIANCE DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.  The discs include the following special features in high definition as noted:

·        Commentary by director Edward Zwick

·        Defiance: Return to the Forest (HD)—Explores all aspects of production from the early stages of pre-production to shooting on location in Lithuania.  Edward Zwick and his creative team discuss some of the challenges and also the rewards of adapting this well-documented historical event into a feature film.

·        Bielski Partisan Survivors (HD)—Photo gallery of images taken by Edward Zwick including behind-the-scenes images and surviving members from the Bielski Otriad.

·        Children of the Otriad: The Families Speak (HD)—Descendents of the Bielski family tour the film's set and relate the story of the real-life partisans along with efforts to preserve the brothers' legacy.

·        Theatrical trailers (HD)