Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber star as brothers at odds in gripping Holocaust drama
DEFIANCE (Edward Zwick, 2008)
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Monday April 8, $25, 7:30
212-864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org
www.defiancemovie.com
In December 2008, there was a spate of Holocaust-related dramas released in theaters, examining the Nazis and the persecution of the Jews from many different angles — with various degrees of success. Among the best of the films — and one that tells a seldom-told tale — is Edward Zwick’s Defiance. Zwick, whose Glory looked at the contribution of African Americans fighting for the North in the Civil War, now turns to WWII, following the Bielski clan as it fights back against the Germans and the local constabulary in Russia. Based on a true story detailed in the book of the same name by Nechama Tec, Defiance stars Daniel Craig as Tuvia, Liev Schreiber as Zus, and Jamie Bell as Asael, three brothers who have left their farm and take refuge in the vast forest they have been playing in since they were kids. As more and more Jews hear about the small community they are establishing hidden among the trees, they flock there. But while Tuvia feels he cannot send anyone away, Zus believes such foolish generosity will result in a lack of food and a greater chance that they will be found and killed. With Tuvia as the group’s reluctant leader, adamant that they should remain in the forest, Zus takes off to join the Russian resistance. “Each day of freedom is a victory,” Tuvia proclaims. “And if we die trying to live, at least we die like human beings.” But as the Germans get closer and the winter grows harsher, the chances of survival seem bleaker and bleaker. Although Defiance does lapse into soap-opera territory and pulls at the emotional heartstrings too often — Zwick and executive producer Marshall Herskovitz were, after all, the creators of Thirtysomething — it is a powerful drama that reveals a rarely shown side of the Holocaust as a group of working-class Jewish men and women refuse to give in or give up, taking up arms and fighting back against impossible odds. The underrated film is being screened April 8 at Symphony Space as part of a special Holocaust Remembrance Day program that benefits School News Nationwide, a Brooklyn-based organization that teaches children journalism skills and tolerance; SNN founder Bill Tingling will introduce the film, there will be a memorial candle lighting and poem, and the screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Holocaust survivor Sally Frishberg and Zvi Bielski, the son of Zus, moderated by Izzy Fridman, the son of a Bielski partisan.