"Defiance"

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Starring: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Mark Feuerstein

Rated: R (for adult language, violence)

Running time: 137 minutes

Best suited for: WWII history buffs, those tired of the absence ofstories of Jewish resistance

Least suited for: the WWIIweary

For those of us weary of the recent spate of war movies, one might consider "Defiance" more akin to the "prison break" genre. Or a tale of survival against all odds, a story of David against Goliath.

In 1941, Nazi occupiers begin rounding up Polish Jews and herding them to concentration camps. Four Jewish brothers escape the slaughter of their family and avoid captivity in the massive Belarusian forest. The Bielski brothers aren't political or militaristic; they simply hope to survive. Natural woodsmen and instinctual foragers, they're familiar with the terrain and believe they can live off the land for as long as necessary.

But other Jewish refugees, driven from their homes, begin to trickle into the forest. The Bielski brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, George Mackay) offer what little food they can, build fires and struggle to comprehend the terror building around them. For Jews, living in Poland has become a death sentence.

Soon more survivors appear by the dozens, and the Bielskis find themselves inadvertent leaders of a small colony of refugees. With little food, few weapons and the intent of avenging their parents' deaths, the Bielskis wage a personal struggle of vengeance combined with compassion.

Based on the true story of the Bielski partisans, "Defiance" is a tale nearly lost to time. Director Edward Zwick (whose own Polish ancestors fought in the resistance) has pieced together a fascinating, reputedly factual, occasionally rambling slice of unknown history, of the Jewish resistance movement that not only fought German forces but saved thousands of lives that would have been lost to the Holocaust.

Okay, "Defiance" really is a war movie—but director Zwick wisely has not infused his film with overt or gratuitous violence. Yes, people die in battle, but I choose to believe this is more a film about saving lives than destroying them.

Daniel Craig (as elder brother Tuvia) and Liev Schreiber (as Zisel) are exceptional as siblings torn by duty and empathy. In one scene they steal milk from a local farmer, but when the man leads the local Nazi-sanctioned police into the forest, the brothers bicker over the rationale of killing the man to save many.

The film seems fraught with the weight of such decisions. Tuvia has ordered there be no pregnancies—infants would only slow down the group, constantly in danger and on the run. Yet when one woman, raped by a Nazi soldier, gives birth, Tuvia must again make a difficult decision.

One might opt to view the film on a multitude of levels, the "bang-bang" aspect of a vintage war flick being the least of them. Not being Jewish, I suspect I'm unable to grasp even greater levels of comprehension, but being human (at least), one can find empathy for a people who believe they are on the verge of extinction.

In the growing village, farmers, intellectuals and students converge and argue the virtue of their existence. There's occasionally a "Lord of the Flies" naivete at play here—do fighters get more food than the sick, the elderly? Do some die so that others will live? One prayer chastises God for providing "too much" suffering. These are people at the crossroads of their very essence.

The problem, occasionally, is that the film seems forced, truncated perhaps simply by the sheer volume of storytelling potential.

Constantly on the run, or raiding farms, or battling the Germans, it's impossible to settle down for more than a few moments into any single character or disposition. For much of the film, Zisel (the yin to Tuvia's yang) disappears, fighting with a Russian partisan group that shares the forest. Younger brother Asail takes a wife.

By the war's end, 1,200 refugees had built a school, a hospital and several workshops in the Belarusian forest. But we see none of this later marvel, only the uncertain origins. And a myriad of subplots are abbreviated when one wishes to linger a little longer. I suspect lots may have been lost to the cuttingroom floor, so perhaps a Director's Cut DVD may add flesh and nuance.

In a nutshell, "Defiance" is a story of hope, of passion. Think of this as the offspring of "Schindler's List" and "Munich"—a struggle of survival, revenge and compassion. An intriguing tale, told in fragments and snippets . . . but at least told.