Defiance (2008) on Netflix
In 1941, four Jewish brothers flee Nazi-occupied Belarus for the Naliboki forest after their parents are killed. Other survivors join them, and Tuvia leads while Zus wants to fight.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.1/10161,827 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes58%
Trailer
Plot summary
When Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union in 1941, the Bielski brothers, Tuvia, Zus, Asael and Aron, lose their parents in the killing of their village and flee into the Naliboki forest in western Belarus. Other Jewish escapees hiding in the woods come under their protection, and Tuvia, the eldest, takes charge of the growing group. He orders that each person must work and that no child is to be born in the camp. His people take food and supplies from nearby farms, strike at German forces and their collaborators, and move camp whenever it is discovered. Tuvia wants to spare Jewish lives; Zus favors bolder attacks on the Germans. As winter approaches, the dispute between the two oldest brothers hardens.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Defiance (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The forest scenes were shot in Lithuania, between 150 and 200 kilometers from where the Bielski partisans actually hid. Co-producer Pieter Jan Brugge felt that closeness lent authenticity, and some of the local extras were descendants of the Jewish families the Bielskis rescued.
- Nechama Tec, whose book the film is based on, was shocked at first by the battle scenes, including the fight with a German tank: the real partisans avoided open combat and concentrated on surviving. She put the changes down to a concession made to make the film thrilling enough to win Hollywood funding, and said that after several viewings she liked it more and more.
- Six months before release, Gazeta Wyborcza reported an uproar among Polish historians who called the Bielskis "Jewish-Communist bandits". The paper said the film departed from the truth several times, showing a pre-war Nowogrodek as a Belarusian town where no one speaks Polish and leaving Polish partisans out altogether.
- The row reached the cinemas themselves: The Guardian reported that Defiance was booed at some Polish venues and banned from others, on a local perception that the film rewrites history and is anti-Polish.
- One scene has the partisans facing a possible typhus epidemic and needing ampicillin, a drug that could not have existed during the Second World War: it was not discovered until 1958.
- Zwick said the hunt for the real group was enormous: Adolf Hitler sent two German divisions into the forest to search for the partisans, and they were unable to locate them.
