Defiance
2008 · Movie · R · 137 min · ★ 6.8 · 58% critics
During World War II, four Jewish brothers flee Nazi-occupied West Belarus, escaping into the forests of Poland. They join Soviet partisans and organize the rescue of about 1,200 Jews trapped in Polish ghettos, building a dangerous path to survival and resistance.
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Details
- Years
- 2008
- Release date
- 2008-12-31
- Language
- English
- Rated
- R
- Runtime
- 137 min
- Critic score
- 58/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.8/10 (1,892 votes)
About
You’ll like Defiance if you enjoy emotional WWII survival and resistance stories in the woods, with action and high stakes throughout; Not for you if you want a debate-proof historical account or a tightly written pace like The Patriot or Sunshine.
Pros: intense survival struggle; emotional historical drama; strong sense of danger | Cons: disputed historical accuracy; sometimes uneven writing; felt too long
Themes
- sibling relationship
- fight
- brother
- world war ii
- forest
- camp
- partisan
Awards & recognition
- National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
- Academy Award — Best Original Score · 2009 · nominated
Cast & crew
Daniel Craig
as Tuvia Bielski
Liev Schreiber
as Zus Bielski
Jamie Bell
as Asael Bielski
Alexa Davalos
as Lilka Ticktin
Allan Corduner
as Shimon Haretz
Mark Feuerstein
as Isaac Malbin
Tomas Arana
as Ben Zion Gulkowitz
Jodhi May
as Tamara Skidelsky
Kate Fahy
as Riva Reich
Iddo Goldberg
as Yitzhak Shulman
Directed by Edward Zwick