Defiance
You certainly know it’s award season when Hollywood finally starts releasing films ‘based on a true story’. Defiance is exactly that.
The film is orientated around the Bielski brothers (Daniel Craig, Live Schreiber and Jamie Bell) who, after witnessing the Jewish families in their Polish home town slaughtered by the Nazis in 1940, initially seek refuge in the forest picking up stragglers along the way. Over time the Bielski brothers create a shelter in the forest for the Jewish community, offering them protection from the Nazis by way of the Beilski’s Partisan clan.
Without getting too caught up in the technicalities of the truth, as a film it’s enjoyable, but you can sense they tried to do too much. Be prepared to hear this compared to Schindler’s List, and thus is a poor second to it. It tries to tick all the boxes instead of focusing on the core theme of what the struggle was about. The two main characters in the film lack real depth; in particular I fear for Craig, as this confirms my early opinion that he has only one layer of emotion to him - the same, old brooding look of James Bond and Flashbacks of a Fool. Even when he hears of the loss of his wife and children, he has the look of man who’s lost another poker hand.
On the other hand, Jamie Bell as the youngest plays a more pivotal role, caught in a power struggle between his two elder brothers. He shows the emotion the viewer feels when watching this. Watching Bell took me back to Billy Elliot in the sense he started from one character and step by step evolved wholly into another. It was a treat to see him doing that here.
In all, there is a place in Hollywood (and in moviegoers' schedules) for films like this because it informs viewers of great humanitarian triumphs otherwise unknown. So appreciate the film for its story and know that it really happened, before you hold any general failings against it.
Without getting too caught up in the technicalities of the truth, as a film it’s enjoyable, but you can sense they tried to do too much. Be prepared to hear this compared to Schindler’s List, and thus is a poor second to it. It tries to tick all the boxes instead of focusing on the core theme of what the struggle was about. The two main characters in the film lack real depth; in particular I fear for Craig, as this confirms my early opinion that he has only one layer of emotion to him - the same, old brooding look of James Bond and Flashbacks of a Fool. Even when he hears of the loss of his wife and children, he has the look of man who’s lost another poker hand.
On the other hand, Jamie Bell as the youngest plays a more pivotal role, caught in a power struggle between his two elder brothers. He shows the emotion the viewer feels when watching this. Watching Bell took me back to Billy Elliot in the sense he started from one character and step by step evolved wholly into another. It was a treat to see him doing that here.
In all, there is a place in Hollywood (and in moviegoers' schedules) for films like this because it informs viewers of great humanitarian triumphs otherwise unknown. So appreciate the film for its story and know that it really happened, before you hold any general failings against it.
Here Is The Writer : Omer Bhatti
Omer Bhatti, Head Sales Trader of WorldSpreads and markets commentator during the week, is always happy to go to a cushy cinema and devour films on the weekend. No film is ruled out, be it French film noir, Hollywood CGI action, or Japanese Manga. Look to Omer for input on where to go and what to see, whether it’s for a first date, family outing, Sunday recovery session, or guy's - or girl's - night out. (Just don't make him watch Sex & the City again.)
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