Defiance

A World War 2 holocaust movie starring James Bond, err, I mean, Daniel Craig, as one of three brothers who escape a Nazi raid on their family farm, Russia 1941. They take refuge in the surrounding forest, and survive in the wilderness by setting up a small community with others who had also lost everything to the Nazi invaders.

It’s not what you expect; here the Jews are fighting back, so it is not an uncomfortable view, like other films based on the subject matter. There is one scene depicting, what can be described as, a mass grave, but it is shot in such a way that the result is not as unsettling as you would expect.

There are scenes of action, but the film is more about the drama, the relationships that are established and evolve. When the violence does come, its result is only more shocking because of the investment you, the viewer, has made in the players.

The film is very focused on this band of people, thrown together by the terrible atrocities afflicted on them by the viciously portrayed Nazi soldiers and informers. Although alluded to, you don’t really get a sense of the bigger picture, the war ranging all around Europe at this time and its impact on these people.

The film, to me, was just a little hollow. When the credits rolled, there was no feeling. I was not upset about anything in the portrayal, The film is based on a true storry, and I belive the film kept to this, but I... I just felt nothing. I was not moved, which given the subject matter, I really expected to be.

Not a bad film, but nothing special.

Meh! Rating 6/10