Defiance

Defiance tells about the four Bielski brothers who lead a group of Jews to safety in the woods from the German Soldiers during WWII. This actually happened: A group of over 1,000 Jews, mostly women and children, hid in the woods protected by some rather thuggish armed men. Of course the lead savior/Bielski brother is played by the studly Daniel Craig who makes some rather remarkable inspirational speeches to a group of beleaguered Jews. Liev Schreiber plays the brute second brother who is bent on revenge and breaks off from his older brother and fights with the Russians violently killing his way through the countryside. (There were several extremely violent parts that I had to fast forward especially when he was on screen) Besides the Bielski brothers there are some lovely women on screen, Mia Wasikowska from In Treatment (she was so good in that if you ever get a chance to see the 1st season of In In Treatement)and Alexa Davalos who seemed a little too beautiful to be covered in dirt in the woods. The movie doesn't hang together that well and there some too sentimental moments in a movie that tells about such a grim period in history and it is very violent. But, with that said, Defiance tells about such an amazing piece of history about a community that survived despite incredible odds that I am glad I saw it. And had to find out what was the “real” story of the Bielski brothers after I saw the movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielski_partisans