Defiance
Review
by Sean Lynch
Holocaust. Underdog story. Big name actors looking
for cred after a string of mainstream blockbusters.
Oscar time must
be right around the corner!
Defiance
follows the story of three Jewish brothers who escape from a Nazi
occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest.
From here, the Brothers Bielski (played by 007
Daniel Craig, Scream
veteran Liev Schreiber and Billy Elliot's
Jamie Bell)
join the Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a refugee
Jew village in order to protect themselves and others in danger from
the atrocities of the Nazi regime.
While
this is a truly astonishing real life tale, a tale which goes a long
way to inspiring those who have ever felt there is no hope left, there
is something that just reeks of to high heaven of personal gain.
Defiance,
for all it's attempts to honour real life heroes, looks and sounds like
every satirical take on the
shallowness of Hollywood films that comedians have ever made.
For anyone who caught Tropic Thunder,
How To Lose Friends And Alienate
People or the Ben Stiller episode of Extras -
you will know exactly what I mean.
It's
a film that uses every trick in the book - dramatic close ups, the
occasional whispered "We won't let them win" inspiring sentence, a
dramatic scuffle, romantically touching the face of a woman and, of
course, explosions - to make the trailer a true Oscar contender.
The only problem is, director Edward Zwick (who is a
serial offender with films like Blood Diamond
and The Last Samurai
under his belt), makes it so glaringly obvious of his true intentions
that you just don't buy into the credibility of the story at all.
Maybe
it's just me - but every scene was met with a sense of cynicism -
constantly trying to work out "Is this the clip that will be shown come
Oscar time?".
Ultimately, it just takes you out of the world of the film.
And
if that (and the inconsistent Jewish/Russian accents) isn't enough to
make your mind wander - there is also the 12 years of isolated forest
living jammed into two hours plus of film. Yep, it's about as
entertaining as watching "Paint Dries While Grass Grows : The Motion
Picture".
Sure, we are meant to understand the horrid nature
of the situation... but it's a movie... with big names... and such
riveting dialogue "What are you going to do today?" "I might go hunt
for some food".
That said, there is some good buried under
all the pretentiousness.
Jamie Bell excels in his role as the youngest of the Bielski's
(he continues to churn out some top class performances) and really
grounds the film, while Schreiber delivers an execellently empathic
performance.
The finale (which is somewhat visually
underwhelming and somewhat unbelievable) is touching and dramatic
enough to get some response out of the audience.
By no means a
terrible film - it's actually a pretty solid effort - but is very much
a glossy "important film" for those who just like to be able to say "I
saw a touching film about the Holocaust,
because I
am totally into human rights and other intellectual things" without
having to venture to far outside of the mainstream.
Just because a film is about important or
great events, it doesn't make a film itself important or
great.
2 out
of 5
Defiance
Australian release: 19th
February,
2009
Official
Site: Defiance
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev
Schreiber, Jamie Bell
Director: Edward Zwick
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