Director Edward Zwick seems to enjoy making films featuring difficult moral issues and plots driven on the ambiguity of authority and on individual conscience as the ultimate arbiter of truth. It was during the success of Thirtysomething, a television series he created with friend Marshall Herskovitz, that Zwick had his first big screen success with 1989’s Glory. Other issue oriented films have followed: Legends of the Fall (1994), Courage Under Fire (1996) The Siege (1998) and Blood Diamond (2006). Along the way, Zwick would also produce Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Traffic (2000). In looking at Zwick’s extensive resume, it’s hard not to consider him one of the more well-rounded director/producers working in Hollywood today.
Zwick’s latest film Defiance, tells the story of the Bielski Partisans, a group of Jewish refugees who hid in the forests of Belarus for over two years fighting sickness, starvation, Nazis soldiers and, in some cases, each other. Their parents slaughtered by Nazi forces, the surviving Bielski brothers — Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber), Asael (Jamie Bell), and Aron (George MacKay) — flee to the Lipiczanska Forest in August 1941. Initially, the brothers planned to fight and seek refuge alone but they ended up taking in additional refugees with each hunt for food, or with each visit to Jewish supporters. Eventually, the group has enough members and weapons to be considered a small army. This small community shares a powerful bond: the desire to elude their would-be killers.
Based on Nechama Tec’s 1993 book, Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, the screenplay was written by Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick. The writers make every scene feel heavy with importance; things move at fairly slow pace but by no means are they sluggish. Defiance is a thought provoking experience where the emotional core of the story is allowed to at times to linger. This effectively draws the audience into the struggle of the characters as they fight to survive against the German forces, the environment and occasionally, one another. The despair that all the characters are feeling is also brought to the forefront with the help of the haunting score by James Newton Howard.
As is typical of a Zwick film, the audience gets a close up look at the realities of life in the Bielski camp. There, just staying alive is a 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week job. The character that best exemplifies this is a self-proclaimed “intellectual,” Isaac Malbin (Mark Feuerstein), a former pamphlet-publisher who no longer reads and writes but instead works with his hands to build the camp and by extension, a future for himself and his people. Feuerstein plays the role convincingly. The entire cast turns in quality performances that show a broad array of emotional turmoil that lends further drama and realism to the picture.
Daniel Craig is nothing like his James Bond portrayal he’s become so famous for. As Tuvia Bielski he is a humble, somewhat said leader. Craig gives the character a real sense of fear and vulnerability he hadn’t shown on screen before. As Zus Bielski, Liev Schreiber plays the character as kind of an obnoxious rebel. Jamie Bell and George MacKay play the other brothers, Asael and Aron. Bell doesn’t really bring a whole lot to the role (he’s played this sort of character before), but he handles his scenes with obvious skill. George MacKay is given little to do, other than emote (his character doesn’t speak). But his few scenes are incredibly moving.
Cinematographer Eduardo Serra, who also worked with Zwick on Blood Diamond, captures many wonderful backdrops and vistas, whether framing static shots or kinetic action sequences. Finally, Defiance enjoys fine editing courtesy of longtime Zwick accomplice Steven Rosenblum.
When all is said and done, it’s the human story of Defiance that makes this a film worth seeing. These men and women sacrificed everything to survive, against impossible odds. Edward Zwick has successfully brought their inspirational story to the screen without clichés or over-the-top dramatics.
Defiance comes to Blu-ray with a splendid 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The film begins with a collection of darker sequences where steely, cold blues dominate the palette. Most colors, generally found in clothing, fade into the darkened appearance of the film but are offset by a nice sprinkling of greens that mark the presence of foliage. Brighter daytime sequences sparkle, with colors standing out as natural and realistic, even if they do tend towards shades of blue and gray. Some interior scenes, those taking place at night, offer a warm, inviting presence, the yellow glow of a candle providing a pleasing atmosphere that might not reveal intricate levels of detail but showcases all that is asked of it. Detail is stellar across the board, on clothing, faces, tree trunks, or the forest floor. Close-ups of Tuvia’s and Zus’ faces throughout the film, almost always reveal fine lines, bumps, and scruffy several-day-old beards that showcase plenty of texture and very fine and nuanced details. Defiance also offers up a discernible depth about the image that further reinforces the strong foreground and background details. Flesh tones and black levels also excel. A fine layer of grain swirls around the image, adding the finishing touches to what is a stellar cinematic-in-appearance presentation.
Defiance debuts on Blu-ray with a quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This mix offers wonderful ambience throughout the film, of note most any scenes taking place in the forest where rustling leaves, chirping birds and insects, a subtle breeze, a flowing stream, or a drenching thunderstorm all deliver natural, immersive atmospheric effects that aren’t terribly loud but certainly realistic in presence, virtually placing listeners in the midst of the natural locales. The action scenes also deliver. Though some single gunshots lack punch on the low end, the film’s several running gun battles feature effects that spread evenly across the soundstage, with shots thumping out from every direction. Defiance also delivers strong dialogue reproduction.
Defiance has a few special features:
• Commentary track with Director Edward Zwick. Zwick offers information on the film’s origins, production, historical accuracy, shooting locations, staging the action sequences, and more, all coming together for a solid listen.
• Defiance: Return to the Forest (1080i, 26:05) making-of feature that examines the history of the real-life people portrayed in the film, the background of the production, the plot, and themes of the film. Cast and crew share their thoughts on each subject, intercut with both footage from the film and the set.
• Children of the Otriad (1080i, 13:42) is an emotional piece where the children of the Bielsky brothers recount the story that inspired the film.
• Scoring Defiance (1080i, 7:00) takes a look at the assembly of the film’s Oscar-nominated score.
• Bielski Partisan Survivors (1080i, 1:58) is a photomontage of real-life survivors.
• A pair of theatrical trailers (1080p, 2:05 & 2:28).
