It is the story of that man named Defiance on Tuvia Bielski, a normal citizen turned into a hero. This man has a perfect experience when he tries to turn a group of war refugees into strong freedom fighters at that time. When this man died along with his brother Zus. Now, both people are paying hundreds of civilians to join their ranks against the Nazi regime in that period.
It's understandable and laudable that they desire not to sensationalize the Bielskis, and they've made a worthy film. But their understated approach makes the struggle seem less urgent than it must surely have been.
Zwick wants to tell timeless stories on a grand scale. I know that's not what people want anymore. I know it's not breathtaking. But it's not something many are doing now, and definitely not doing it this well.
Ultimately, the film celebrates and memorializes the survival of something unthinkable, and a group of people for whom defiance meant, at heart, that they would push against the growing darkness and carry on.
San Francisco Chronicle
January 16, 2009
It's difficult, perhaps impossible, to make a gripping 137-minute epic about people standing around under the trees.
