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Freedom begins with an act of "Defiance"...
There is a twinge of disappointment writing
this review. "Defiance" is thinner and
less rousing than I had hoped. The
trailers made me feel like I was in for an
emotional and exciting movie about courage
in the face of ultimate evil. Instead,
all I got was a run of the mill TV-movie.
That being said, it
is a solid TV-movie.
Daniel Craig and
Liev Schreiber star as two brothers who take
to the vast Belarussian forests to evade the
Nazis. Once there, their numbers
increase rapidly as Jewish families flee
with them. Soon, there are dozens,
maybe hundreds of mouths to feed and
shelter. It becomes an almost
impossible task in the dead of winter.
It becomes deadly once the Nazis close in on
their location.
The action is kept
at an arm's length. We never feel the
cold. We never feel the starvation.
We never feel the danger of bullets flying
past our heads. "Defiance" never seems
to engage beyond the surface of things.
At times, it feels like an episode of
"Survivor" without the challenges.
I am trivializing
somewhat. This is, after all, a true
story of tremendous courage. It is
just that Ed Zwick fails to direct the film
in ways that would help us connect.
I was uninvolved.
The performances are
all fine. No need to dust off the
mantle for gold statues, but still worthy of
note.
"Defiance" will
please many but thrill very few. It is
a good movie without ever even attempting to
be a great one. Rent it once it
arrives on DVD. It doesn't merit
anything more.
©
Written by TC Candler
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