How should a guy ask a girl out? How long can a person stand someone they disagree with? How should humans act when they live like animals?
As is evident by these questions, the characters in the movie Defiance faced many dilemmas. Defiance is a Hollywood version of a book by Nechama Tec, called Defiance: The Bielski Partisans. The movie, as well as the book, is set in the Belarusian forests of the early 1940s, during the Holocaust of World War II. The movie follows the four Bielski brothers; Tuvia (played by Daniel Craig), Zus, Asael and Aron. The brothers flee to the woods to escape the slaughter of their village. As time goes on, more fleeing Jews join the Bielskis. As the forest group continues to grow many new challenges and hardships are faced. These include how to feed the newcomers, who could lead the group and whether to fight for revenge or simply fight for food. Each of the brothers handles their shared hardships differently. The leader Tuvia is content with surviving as a community in the woods. In contrast, the warlike Zus is drawn to fight the Nazis for revenge. Asael seems like a teenager in the beginning of the movie. During the course of the movie he is forced to grow up. Aron, the youngest brother, wrestles with the loss of his parents and innocence throughout the movie. Despite their many hardships, the brothers survive the movie along with 1,200 other refugees.
I thought that Defiance was a very good movie. It had many deep themes, but the movie was watchable because there were enough lighthearted scenes (something I wasn’t expecting) and battles to move the meaningful plot along. This movie works because the parts that forced the viewer to think were extremely compelling. In one scene Tuvia and Zus’s conflicting doctrines on revenge come to blows. Zus then leaves the community because of the fight. This scene shows disagreement between the refugees on how actively they should attack the Nazis. The disagreement stems from two different mindsets which are posed to the audience. Does revenge mean living in spite of those who seek to kill? Or does revenge means hurting those who have harmed you? Defiance never resolves that issue, because at some times surviving benefited the community and at others fighting was beneficial. Another powerful scene occurs when Asael and Aron capture a German and bring him back to the camp. The moment the refugees realize who he is, most of them crowd around him. The scene escalates until they begin to beat him-to death. Tuvia, the leader, watches the scene from afar. Some sympathetic persons in the crowd look to him to stop the beating but he does nothing. This disturbing scene raises many questions: “Was Tuvia’s inaction moral?” “Did the German deserve to die?” “How did the refugees feel after they killed him?” Defiance is a movie I highly recommend.
- Zander Pellegrino
**Editor's note: This movie is rated R for violence and language**
