DEFIANCE / RBELLION (BILINGUAL)

Details

• Release Year: 2008
• Genre: Action, Drama
• Plot: The film is based on events which began in August 1941. Nazi Einsatzgruppen (task forces) are sweeping through Eastern Europe, systematically killing Jews. Among the survivors not killed or restricted to ghettoes are the Polish Jewish Bielski brothers: Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber), Asael and Aron. Their parents are dead, killed by local police under orders from the German occupiers. The brothers flee to the Naliboki Forest, vowing to avenge the deaths of their parents. ; The brothers encounter other Jewish escapees hiding in the forest and take them under their protection and leadership. Tuvia kills the local Schutzmannschaft (Auxiliary Police) chief responsible for his parents' deaths. Over the next year, they shelter a growing number of refugees, raiding local farms for food and supplies and moving their camp whenever they are discovered by the collaborationist police. The Bielski brothers stage raids on the Germans and their collaborators. Casualties cause Tuvia to reconsider this approach because of the risk to the hiding Jews. Rivalry between the two eldest brothers, Tuvia and Zus, fuels a disagreement between them about their future; as winter approaches, Zus decides to leave 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 partisans agree to protect the Jewish camp in exchange for supplies. ; After a winter of sickness, starvation, attempted betrayal and constant hiding, the camp learns that the Germans are about to attack them in force. The Soviets refuse to help and they evacuate the camp as German dive-bombers strike. A delaying force stays behind, led by Asael, to slow down the German ground troops. The defence does not last long; only Asael and a camp member named Sofiya survive 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 with only one casualty but are immediately attacked by a German platoon supported by a Panzer III tank. Just as all seems lost, the Germans are assaulted from the rear by a partisan force led by Zus, who has deserted the Soviets to rejoin the group. ; As the survivors escape into the forest, the film ends as text on the screen states that they lived in the forest for another two years, building a hospital, a nursery, a school, growing to a total of 1,200 Jews. Original photographs of the participants are shown, including Tuvia in his uniform and their fates are described, Asael joined the Soviet Army and was soon killed in action, never getting to see the child he fathered; Tuvia, Zus and Aron survived the war and emigrated to America to form a trucking firm in New York City. The epilogue also states that the Bielski brothers never sought recognition for what they did and that the descendants of the people they saved now number in the tens of thousands.
• Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner, Mark Feuerstein, Tomas Arana, Jodhi May, Kate Fahy, Iddo Goldberg, Iben Hjejle, Martin Hancock, Ravil Isyanov, Jacek Koman, George MacKay, Jonjo O'Neill, Sam Spruell, Mia Wasikowska, Mark Margolis, Markus von Lingen, Rolandas Boravskis, Algirdas Dainavicius, Aurelija Prashuntaite, Vidas Petkevicius, Ina Frismanaite, Ana Goldberg, Rimante Valiukaite, Leonardas Pobedonoscevas, Kristina Bertasiute, Kristina Skokova, Remigijus Bilinskas, Rimgaudas Karvelis, Janina Matiekonyte, Leonas Ciunis, Aleksandr Zila, Iveta Nadzeikiene, Clayton Frohman, Marc Levy, Zoe Rosenblum, Sakalas Uzdavinys, Saulius Janaviciu, Leonid Kotik, Dalia Smalskiene, Tadas Kavaliauskas, Matas Cancingeris, Diana Aneviciute, Sigitas Rackys, Vaidas Kublinskas, Valentin Novopolskij, Dalia Micheleviciute, Ervinas Peteraitis, Dmitrij Denisiuk, Antanas Surna, Dalius Mertinas, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Aldona Bendoriute, Darius Gumauskas, Irmantas Bacelis, Edita Uzaite, Jordan Bielsky, Gediminas Girdvainis, Stanislav Adamickij, Klemens Becker, Jonas Tamulevigius, Jaroslav Psenicka, Jolanta Dapkunaite, Miroslav Lhotka, Giacomo Strasser, Mac Steinmeier, Dmitri Slepovitch, Arkadij Gotesman, Borisas Kirzeneris, Raimondas Sviackevicius, Adolf Hitler, Zitto Kazann, Edward Zwick, Nechama Tec
• Director: Edward Zwick
• Runtime: 2:17
• Media Format: Movie