Defiance

Not all Jews under Hitler's boot were passive victims. Some were warriors. Edward Zwick's film about the Bielski partisans, who survived in the Belorussian forests for about two years and helped other Jews escape the Warsaw ghetto, avoids the excesses of what Art Spiegelman called Holo-kitsch to forge a fable of resistance as engrossing as it is complex. In this enclave, Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig) is the de facto president, his brother Zus (Liev Schreiber) the impulsive general; the two men war with each other almost as much as with the Nazis and Soviets who cross their path. A mix of romance, political debate and thrilling action, Defiance celebrates a people's will to live by any means necessary. It too is worth celebrating. 12/31

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