Jump to content

Defiance (2008 film): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
+
rewrite a bit, to convey better what the Times article says. Naliboki massacre (unconfirmed) should be deemphasized, fact that Bielski were member of Soviet partisans (undisputed) indicated
Line 65: Line 65:
|url = http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/01/12/090112crci_cinema_denby?currentPage=2| |accessdate=2009-01-19}}</ref>
|url = http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/01/12/090112crci_cinema_denby?currentPage=2| |accessdate=2009-01-19}}</ref>


''[[The Times]]'' reported some Poles fear "Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes<ref>http://www.rp.pl/artykul/153227,252550_Bielski_pomagal_Zydom__ale_tez_ich_wykorzystywal.html</ref> from the story", such as the 1943 [[Naliboki massacre]]. The most serious allegation is that the [[Bielski partisans|Bielski partisans]] may have participated in a Soviet-organized massacre of Polish civilians and members of the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]].<ref name="tch">{{cite news | author=Kamil Tchorek | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5420709.ece | title=Country split over whether Daniel Craig is film hero or villain | publisher=''[[The Times]]'' | date=2008-12-31 | accessdate=2008-12-31 }}</ref><ref name=aronbell>{{pl icon}} Piotr Głuchowski, Marcin Kowalski, [http://wyborcza.pl/1,75480,5318207,Wymazany_Aron_Bell.html Wymazany Aron Bell], Gazeta Wyborcza, 008-06-16</ref> The Polish [[Institute of National Remembrance]] has been investigating the massacre since the early 2000s. As of January 2009, it has not issued findings.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|title=Jewish Brothers' Resistance Inspired 'Defiance'|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98759355&ft=3&f=searchTerm=The+Great+Escape1045|date=2008-12-28|accessdate=2009-01-20}}</ref> Others argue that so far little evidence has been found to suggest the Bielski partisans were responsible for the massacre. Some historians, and Tuvia Bielski’s son, say the Bielski partisans were not in the area at the time.<ref name='Forward'>{{cite news | first=Marissa | last=Brostoff | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Polish Investigators Tie Partisans to Massacre | date=7-August-2008 | publisher= | url =http://www.forward.com/articles/13935/ | work =The Forward | pages = | accessdate = 2009-01-23 | language = }}</ref><ref>{{pl icon}} [http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,81048,6161173,Rzecznik_IPN_nt__zbrodni_w_Nalibokach_i_braci_Bielskich.html Rzecznik IPN nt. zbrodni w Nalibokach i braci Bielskich], 2009-01-14, gazeta.pl</ref><ref>{{pl icon}} [http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,81048,6157808,Kontrowersyjny__Opor__o_braciach_Bielskich_23_stycznia.html Kontrowersyjny "Opór" o braciach Bielskich 23 stycznia w kinach], 2009-01-13</ref>
''[[The Times]]''<ref name="tch"/> reported some Poles fear "Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes from the story", specifically those related to the fact that Bielski partisans were affiliated with Soviet partisans directed by the feared [[NKVD]], which towards the end of the war terrorized ethnic Poles in Eastern Poland, including the region where Bielski’s unit operated<ref>http://www.rp.pl/artykul/153227,252550_Bielski_pomagal_Zydom__ale_tez_ich_wykorzystywal.html</ref>. The most serious allegation is that the [[Bielski partisans|Bielski partisans]] may have participated in a Soviet-organized [[Naliboki massacre]] of Polish civilians and members of the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]].<ref name="tch">{{cite news | author=Kamil Tchorek | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5420709.ece | title=Country split over whether Daniel Craig is film hero or villain | publisher=''[[The Times]]'' | date=2008-12-31 | accessdate=2008-12-31 }}</ref><ref name=aronbell>{{pl icon}} Piotr Głuchowski, Marcin Kowalski, [http://wyborcza.pl/1,75480,5318207,Wymazany_Aron_Bell.html Wymazany Aron Bell], Gazeta Wyborcza, 008-06-16</ref> The Polish [[Institute of National Remembrance]] has been investigating the massacre since the early 2000s. As of January 2009, it has not issued findings.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|title=Jewish Brothers' Resistance Inspired 'Defiance'|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98759355&ft=3&f=searchTerm=The+Great+Escape1045|date=2008-12-28|accessdate=2009-01-20}}</ref> Others argue that so far little evidence has been found to suggest the Bielski partisans were responsible for the massacre. Some historians, and Tuvia Bielski’s son, say the Bielski partisans were not in the area at the time.<ref name='Forward'>{{cite news | first=Marissa | last=Brostoff | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Polish Investigators Tie Partisans to Massacre | date=7-August-2008 | publisher= | url =http://www.forward.com/articles/13935/ | work =The Forward | pages = | accessdate = 2009-01-23 | language = }}</ref><ref>{{pl icon}} [http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,81048,6161173,Rzecznik_IPN_nt__zbrodni_w_Nalibokach_i_braci_Bielskich.html Rzecznik IPN nt. zbrodni w Nalibokach i braci Bielskich], 2009-01-14, gazeta.pl</ref><ref>{{pl icon}} [http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,81048,6157808,Kontrowersyjny__Opor__o_braciach_Bielskich_23_stycznia.html Kontrowersyjny "Opór" o braciach Bielskich 23 stycznia w kinach], 2009-01-13</ref>


The movie has been criticized for other historical inaccuracies.<ref name="hollywood"/><ref name=wyborcza>{{en icon}} ''[http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6125087,The_True_Story_of_the_Bielski_Brothers.html The True Story of the Bielski Brothers]'' {{pl icon}} ''[http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6124559,Prawdziwa_historia_Bielskich.html Prawdziwa historia Bielskich]'', ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]'', 2009-01-06</ref><ref name=aronbell/> The movie exaggerated combat carried out by the Bielski partisans (in reality, they never fought German tanks).<ref name="hollywood">[http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,5316759,A_Hollywood_Movie_About_Heroes_or_Murderers_.html A Hollywood Movie About Heroes or Murderers?], ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', 2008-06-16</ref> ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]'' noted the film "departed from the truth on several occasions", including depicting pre-war Nowogrodek as a Belarussian town where "no one speaks Polish, and [[Home Army|Polish partisans]] are missing from the film altogether."<ref name=wyborcza/><ref name=wyborcza2>{{pl icon}} [http://wyborcza.pl/1,75475,6188795,Nazywam_sie_Bielski__Tewje_Bielski.html Nazywam się Bielski, Tewje Bielski] [My name is Bielski, Tewje Bielski], ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', 2009-01-22</ref>
The movie has been criticized for other historical inaccuracies.<ref name="hollywood"/><ref name=wyborcza>{{en icon}} ''[http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6125087,The_True_Story_of_the_Bielski_Brothers.html The True Story of the Bielski Brothers]'' {{pl icon}} ''[http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,6124559,Prawdziwa_historia_Bielskich.html Prawdziwa historia Bielskich]'', ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]'', 2009-01-06</ref><ref name=aronbell/> The movie exaggerated combat carried out by the Bielski partisans (in reality, they never fought German tanks).<ref name="hollywood">[http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,5316759,A_Hollywood_Movie_About_Heroes_or_Murderers_.html A Hollywood Movie About Heroes or Murderers?], ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', 2008-06-16</ref> ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]'' noted the film "departed from the truth on several occasions", including depicting pre-war Nowogrodek as a Belarussian town where "no one speaks Polish, and [[Home Army|Polish partisans]] are missing from the film altogether."<ref name=wyborcza/><ref name=wyborcza2>{{pl icon}} [http://wyborcza.pl/1,75475,6188795,Nazywam_sie_Bielski__Tewje_Bielski.html Nazywam się Bielski, Tewje Bielski] [My name is Bielski, Tewje Bielski], ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', 2009-01-22</ref>

Revision as of 22:06, 23 January 2009

Defiance
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEdward Zwick
Written byClayton Frohman
Edward Zwick
Produced byEdward Zwick
Pieter Jan Brugge
StarringDaniel Craig
Liev Schreiber
Jamie Bell
George MacKay
CinematographyEduardo Serra
Edited bySteven Rosenblum
Music byJames Newton Howard
Distributed byParamount Vantage
Release dates
December 31, 2008 (limited)
January 16, 2009 (full)
Running time
137 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million
Box office$20,635,786

Defiance is a Template:Fy war film directed by Edward Zwick. Set in the eastern regions of German Nazi-occupied Poland (now western Belarus) during World War II, the film is an adaptation of Nechama Tec's Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, which is based on the true story of the Bielski partisans. Tec's book told how Polish Jews came together for common protection and to oppose the German occupation of their homeland.

Defiance stars Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, and George MacKay as four Jewish brothers from Poland who escaped the Nazi persecution and fought back to rescue fellow Jews. Production began in early September 2007. The film had a limited release in the United States on December 31, 2008,[1] and went into general release worldwide on January 16, 2009.[2]

Plot

The film opens in August 1941 as Nazi forces are sweeping through Eastern Europe, targeting Jewish people. Among the survivors not killed or restricted to ghettoes are the Bielski brothers: Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zusi (Liev Schreiber), Asael (Jamie Bell), Aron (George MacKay). Their parents are dead, slain by the local police under orders from the occupying Germans. The brothers flee to the forest, vowing to avenge their parents.

They encounter other Jewish escapees hiding in the forest and the brothers take them under their protection and leadership. Over the next year they shelter a growing number of refugees, raiding local farms for food and supplies, moving their camp whenever they are discovered by the Germans. Tuvia kills the local police chief responsible for his parents' deaths and the brothers stage raids on the Germans and collaborators, however Jewish casualties cause Tuvia to reconsider this approach because of the resulting risk to the hiding Jews. A long-time sibling rivalry between the two eldest brothers, Tuvia and Zus, fuels a disagreement between them about their future: as winter approaches Zus elects to leave his brothers and the camp and join a local company of Soviet partisans, while his older brother Tuvia remains with the camp as their leader. An arrangement is made between the two groups in which the Soviet soldiers agree to protect the Jewish camp in exchange for supplies.

After a winter of sickness, starvation, and constant hiding, the camp learns that the Germans are about to attack them in force. The Soviets refuse to help them and they evacuate the camp as German dive-bombers strike. A delaying force stays behind, led by Asael. The defense does not last long, with only Asael and another surviving to rejoin the rest of the group, who, at the edge of the forest, are confronted with a seemingly impassable marsh. They cross the marsh, but are immediately attacked by a German tank and infantry. Just as all seems lost, the Germans are assaulted from the rear by a partisan force led by Zus, who has grown disenchanted with the Soviets' antisemitism. The film ends as on-screen text states that the camp survived another two years, ultimately sheltering 1,200 Jews.

Cast

Production notes

Zwick began writing a script for Defiance in 1999 after he acquired film rights to Tec's book. Zwick developed the project under his production company, The Bedford Falls Company, and the project was financed by the London-based company Grosvenor Park with a budget of $50 million.

In May 2007, actor Daniel Craig was cast in the lead role. Paramount Vantage acquired the rights to distribute Defiance in the United States and Canada.[3] The following August, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, and Tomas Arana were cast.[4] Production began in early September 2007 so Craig could complete filming Defiance before moving on to reprising his role as James Bond in Quantum of Solace.[3]

Defiance was filmed in three months in Lithuania.[6][7] Co-producer Pieter Jan Brugge felt the shooting locations, between 150 and 200 kilometers from the actual sites, lent authenticity; some local extras were descended from families that had been rescued by the group.[8]

Critical reaction

Defiance received mixed reviews from film critics.[9] Rotten Tomatoes reported that 53% of critics gave the film a positive review based upon a sample of 132, with an average score of 5.8/10.[10] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 58 based on 34 reviews.[9]

New York Times critic A.O. Scott called the film "stiff, musclebound." He said that Zwick "wields his camera with a heavy hand, punctuating nearly every scene with emphatic nods, smiles or grimaces as the occasion requires. His pen is, if anything, blunter still, with dialogue that crashes down on the big themes like a blacksmith’s hammer." Scott also said the film unfairly implied that "if only more of the Jews living in Nazi-occupied Europe had been as tough as the Bielskis, more would have survived".[11] The review states further that "in setting out to overturn historical stereotypes of Jewish passivity, ...(the film) ends up affirming them."[11]

New Yorker film critic David Denby praised the film, saying that "it makes instant emotional demands, and those who respond to it, as I did, are likely to go all the way and even come out of it feeling slightly stunned." Denby praised the performances in the film, which he described as "a kind of realistic fairy tale set in a forest newly enchanted by the sanctified work of staying alive."[12]

The Times[13] reported some Poles fear "Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes from the story", specifically those related to the fact that Bielski partisans were affiliated with Soviet partisans directed by the feared NKVD, which towards the end of the war terrorized ethnic Poles in Eastern Poland, including the region where Bielski’s unit operated[14]. The most serious allegation is that the Bielski partisans may have participated in a Soviet-organized Naliboki massacre of Polish civilians and members of the Polish resistance.[13][15] The Polish Institute of National Remembrance has been investigating the massacre since the early 2000s. As of January 2009, it has not issued findings.[16] Others argue that so far little evidence has been found to suggest the Bielski partisans were responsible for the massacre. Some historians, and Tuvia Bielski’s son, say the Bielski partisans were not in the area at the time.[17][18][19]

The movie has been criticized for other historical inaccuracies.[20][21][15] The movie exaggerated combat carried out by the Bielski partisans (in reality, they never fought German tanks).[20] Gazeta Wyborcza noted the film "departed from the truth on several occasions", including depicting pre-war Nowogrodek as a Belarussian town where "no one speaks Polish, and Polish partisans are missing from the film altogether."[21][22]

Awards and nominations

On January 22, 2009 the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Original Score. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for 2008 but did not win.

References

  1. ^ Template:Cite Sm
  2. ^ "Defiance (2008)". Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  3. ^ a b c Pamela McClintock (2007-05-16). "Daniel Craig to star in 'Defiance'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-01-21. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e Tatiana Siegel (2007-08-09). "Foursome can't resist Defiance". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-01-21. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Defiance (2008)". Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  6. ^ Lisa Chamoff (2007-06-19). "Westport author's Holocaust book - to be made into Hollywood movie". Greenwich Time. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Talis Saule Archdeacon (2008-01-09). "Baltic film returns to world stage". The Baltic Times. Retrieved 2008-01-21. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Commentary: Lithuania's star turn helped 'Defiance' get the details right". The Hollywood Reporter. 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  9. ^ a b "Defiance (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved January 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Defiance Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved January 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ a b Review in the New York Times from December 31, 2008
  12. ^ David Denby (film critic) (12-January 2009). "Survivors". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2009-01-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. ^ a b Kamil Tchorek (2008-12-31). "Country split over whether Daniel Craig is film hero or villain". The Times. Retrieved 2008-12-31. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.rp.pl/artykul/153227,252550_Bielski_pomagal_Zydom__ale_tez_ich_wykorzystywal.html
  15. ^ a b Template:Pl icon Piotr Głuchowski, Marcin Kowalski, Wymazany Aron Bell, Gazeta Wyborcza, 008-06-16
  16. ^ "Jewish Brothers' Resistance Inspired 'Defiance'". National Public Radio. 2008-12-28. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  17. ^ Brostoff, Marissa (7-August-2008). "Polish Investigators Tie Partisans to Massacre". The Forward. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ Template:Pl icon Rzecznik IPN nt. zbrodni w Nalibokach i braci Bielskich, 2009-01-14, gazeta.pl
  19. ^ Template:Pl icon Kontrowersyjny "Opór" o braciach Bielskich 23 stycznia w kinach, 2009-01-13
  20. ^ a b A Hollywood Movie About Heroes or Murderers?, Gazeta Wyborcza, 2008-06-16
  21. ^ a b Template:En icon The True Story of the Bielski Brothers Template:Pl icon Prawdziwa historia Bielskich, Gazeta Wyborcza, 2009-01-06
  22. ^ Template:Pl icon Nazywam się Bielski, Tewje Bielski [My name is Bielski, Tewje Bielski], Gazeta Wyborcza, 2009-01-22
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Defiance_(2008_film)&oldid=265997760"