“Our revenge is to live”

When I first saw a preview for Edward Zwick’s new film about a group of Jews in WWII finding safe haven in the woods, I immediately knew I had to watch. Defiance caught my attention not because the two lead roles were huge stars (James Bond, omg), not because I thought it would be worthy of Oscar buzz, and not even because it was by the director of the amazing Blood Diamond. What grabbed me was more important than those somewhat-insignificant details: the story. It depicts the true story of a group of Jews fighting back against the Nazis. That plot point was enough to have me going, “um, gotta catch this one”. Then I thought after a few minutes, why haven’t I heard this story before? It is such an interesting and different angle to such a horrific time. Though the film was not artistically forward, the technical part of movie-making took a backseat in this one, letting the heroic reality shine through. 

There have been many many films relating to the Holocaust, the majority of which I have seen, all of which have brought me to tears. Of course, tears of sadness, because the events depicted actually happened, and because human beings allowed them to. Most of the time, I exit the theatre or press stop on my DVD player (or exit an internet window on my computer, shhh), and am left distraught, horrified, and hopeless for mankind. This film was different. Watching Defiance, tears once again came to my eyes, out of sadness, yes, but also out of pride. These real-life people had so much courage and strength to fight back against the utmost evil. As a young Jew, I am so glad this story was told. It gave me hope that the impossible can become possible if you just have faith, even when life gives you no reason to. This, to me, is what the movies are all about.

As a side note, I find it interesting that Daniel Craig plays a Jew a lot even though he is not, as far as I know. He played Steve, one of the Jewish assassins in Munich, as well. Maybe he has Jewish ancestry or something and wants to honor that. Also, this film is interesting in that it contains a lot of aspects of the Jewish culture, and allusions to parts of the Old Testament I noticed woven into the story. I enjoyed seeing this depicted, not as part of the plot, rather just as character development and mood. It gave the movie validity and a sense of reality.