“B+” Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

Without question, one of my favorite directors is Edward Zwick. As repeatedly demonstrated in such films as “Glory” (1989), “The Last Samurai” (2003) and “Blood Diamond” (2006), he has been able to grasp inspirational elements of significant historical events far more competently than any other director working today.

Additionally, he has demonstrated the ability to work with some of the most recognized stars in the cinema and mold them into the story rather than have them dominate it. From Denzel Washington in “Glory” to Tom Cruise in “Samurai” to Leonardo DiCaprio in “Diamond,” all have given raw, spirited performances as otherwise flawed men willing to die for a higher principle.

Yet while all three of the above-mentioned Zwick films were powerful, entertaining dramas that exposed the folly of human existence, they nonetheless strangely met with a muted reception by the nation’s critics. Quite frankly, I didn’t understand it then nor do I now. Even if you ignore Zwick’s extraordinary ability to recreate memorable moments in history, all of theses films were enormously entertaining on a visceral level. What is it about Zwick that so many critics are so willing to dismiss out of hand?

This trend continues with his immensely enjoyable “Defiance.” It tells the compelling and inspirational tale about the three Bielski brothers who led a group of Jewish resistance fighters in Belarus against the German onslaught in the fall of 1941.

Don’t be misled by the critics nit-picking at this fine film, as it is a powerful human drama on multiple levels. Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell play the three brothers, and they give stellar performances. Wrestling to find their place in the world before their parents and family members are wiped out by the SS and their collaborators, they flee to the forest to both survive and seek vengeance.

However, their task is enormously complicated when they find themselves protecting a growing group of Jewish survivors. Mr. Craig, who continues his evolution into a formidable actor, is the brother who sees the protection of these fractured Jewish families as his utmost obligation. In his own words, “survival shall be our revenge.”

Mr. Schreiber, on the other hand, is the hot-blooded brother who seeks revenge only in terms of killing as many Germans and their collaborators as possible. Their disagreement eventually leads to their estrangement, and it defines one of the many intriguing moral ambiguities of this interesting film.

While this is at its heart an action movie, it is in reality so much more. In Mr. Craig’s Tuvia Bielski, we have a character who is desperately trying to remain human. While he knows that the members of his ragtag Jewish community are being hunted like animals, he does not want to be reduced to that level himself.

Early in “Defiance,” Craig breaks into the home of the collaborator who killed his parents. He proceeds to kill that individual and his two sons in front of their grief stricken wife/mother, who begs Craig to kill her also. As he stumbles from their home, you see in Craig’s face his personal revulsion at having committed this vengeful yet understandable act of murder.

In another scene that defines the moral quandary faced by man since the dawn of time, we see interactive scenes of the younger Beilski brother, Mr. Bell, getting married in the forest surrounded by the loving embrace of his small, adopted community. Zwick quickly cuts away to a simultaneous moment where we see Schreiber helping to lead a group of Russian commandos in an ambush of a German convoy. Zwick inventively joins touching scenes of romance, love and community with combat sequences of death and destruction. Decency meets horror, and the effect is mesmerizing.

Having said that, “Defiance” is not without its weaknesses. All of our heroes, especially the women, are flat-out gorgeous. Did Mr. Craig really need to be riding a white horse? And I will not argue that the eventual triumph of the Beilski brothers is a little to pat and convenient.

On the other hand, any of these defects are drowned out by the quality of this richly textured film. In particular, it is hard not to miss the parallels between Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt during the Exodus and the Beilski brothers leading their own band of Jewish followers through the swamps of Belarus, the pursuing Germans closing in on their heels. The waters may not have parted, but the meaning was the same.

Without question, “Defiance” resonates on a level that transcends its status as a simple motion picture. As much as we want to pretend that mankind is civilized, what we see going on in the world today clearly demonstrates otherwise.

Look at what is going on in Gaza and Somalia. Think of the tens of millions of human beings killed in the wars of the Twentieth Century. The fact is that there exists a thin line separating man from slipping back into barbarity, and who would deny that we cross it constantly.

Simply put, we cannot advance the cause of civilization by reducing ourselves to the level of Nazis or present day terrorists. In particular, what Bush and Cheney have done by endorsing torture, rendition and disdain for the Geneva Convention is nothing less than to lower us as a people to the level of those that we are claiming to be “evil.”

Sure, it may be true, as Mr. Craig said, that “survival shall be our revenge.” However, survival means nothing unless we stay true to our core principles of decency and community that advances the cause of all that we hold precious and sacred as human beings.