enthousiastic review! thank youJoniJoni wrote:http://jewssip.com/4394/exclusive-defia ... ion-movie/
Jewish website with their review of Defiance.
DC in Ed Zwick's DEFIANCE
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Germangirl
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From IMBD
I also had the chance to talk with Edward Zwick. I found the movie incredibly moving, not because of the subject matter; however, because of the humanity. Faced with a challenge that people could not even fathom, even though they were used to a life of hardship being Jews, we see the Bielski brothers react to the unbelievable in different ways. One tries to preserve humanity while another rages against evil. We see each are challenged with the dilema's of their choices.
It is not only the humanity of the the Bielski brothers that is so vividly portrayed. We see how some attempt to create social order while others attempt to tear it down. We see mob mentality overcome this society when a German soldier is captured. And we see individual characters find, loose(or almost loose according to my discussion with Edward Zwick), and then re-discover their beliefs.
There are those who would believe this is a story about Jews who fought back during the Holocaust. Although this is accurate and brings up many other issues, I for one think this is a study in how people discover their humanity when dealing with adversity.
I saw the preview screening too. WGA theater, right?
I agree, it was a well-done piece. Something that particularly caught me off guard (and not in a bad way, though some may argue otherwise) was that the Bielski brothers (namely Liev's character Zus, but also Craig's Tuvie) were sort of...not so good at a lot of parts of the film. Very brutal movie.
BUT, keep in mind it's a survival story, and the unimaginable hardships the Bielski's group had to go through for YEARS. The only bad thing to say about the movie (if you can even call it that) was that it only captured a small glimpse of the bigger picture. It ended at a good point for adequate closure and pretty much started where it needed to start, but you know there's so much to the story than presented. But isn't that always the case with historical movies?
At the post-screening discussion with Zwick, he expressed wanting to open people's eyes to this story of Jewish resistant fighters, and in that respect, he definitely succeeds. Out of the DOZENS of WWII movies set in the European theater, I can't say I've come across one that involves the Jews, Red Army and Nazis, nor one that portrays Jewish resistance fighters.
It's worth the watch.
On Rotten Tomatoes its so far 42 % from critis and 80% from the community - I think that tells something about the film..
I also had the chance to talk with Edward Zwick. I found the movie incredibly moving, not because of the subject matter; however, because of the humanity. Faced with a challenge that people could not even fathom, even though they were used to a life of hardship being Jews, we see the Bielski brothers react to the unbelievable in different ways. One tries to preserve humanity while another rages against evil. We see each are challenged with the dilema's of their choices.
It is not only the humanity of the the Bielski brothers that is so vividly portrayed. We see how some attempt to create social order while others attempt to tear it down. We see mob mentality overcome this society when a German soldier is captured. And we see individual characters find, loose(or almost loose according to my discussion with Edward Zwick), and then re-discover their beliefs.
There are those who would believe this is a story about Jews who fought back during the Holocaust. Although this is accurate and brings up many other issues, I for one think this is a study in how people discover their humanity when dealing with adversity.
I saw the preview screening too. WGA theater, right?
I agree, it was a well-done piece. Something that particularly caught me off guard (and not in a bad way, though some may argue otherwise) was that the Bielski brothers (namely Liev's character Zus, but also Craig's Tuvie) were sort of...not so good at a lot of parts of the film. Very brutal movie.
BUT, keep in mind it's a survival story, and the unimaginable hardships the Bielski's group had to go through for YEARS. The only bad thing to say about the movie (if you can even call it that) was that it only captured a small glimpse of the bigger picture. It ended at a good point for adequate closure and pretty much started where it needed to start, but you know there's so much to the story than presented. But isn't that always the case with historical movies?
At the post-screening discussion with Zwick, he expressed wanting to open people's eyes to this story of Jewish resistant fighters, and in that respect, he definitely succeeds. Out of the DOZENS of WWII movies set in the European theater, I can't say I've come across one that involves the Jews, Red Army and Nazis, nor one that portrays Jewish resistance fighters.
It's worth the watch.
On Rotten Tomatoes its so far 42 % from critis and 80% from the community - I think that tells something about the film..
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..
'Defiance' tells tale of Jewish resistance
Zwick's WWII drama offers a fresh point of view
When Ed Zwick appeared at a November screening of his new film, "Defiance," he quoted some lines from a poem by W. H. Auden called "September 1, 1939":
"I and the public know
"What all school children learn,
"Those to whom evil is done
"Do evil in return."
Those lines are particularly relevant to the film, which is based on the true story of the Polish Jewish Bielski brothers, who saved dozens of other displaced Jews by offering them a kind of sanctuary and began a brutal fight against the Nazis in the forests of Eastern Europe during WWII. Indeed, the characters as portrayed in the film are heroic but also violent -- sometimes murderous -- in taking revenge against the Nazis and even each other. It's that duality that pulled Zwick into the story.
"People tend to describe history in monolithic terms," says the helmer regarding some of the film's unsettling depictions of retaliation. "But when you break it down, you discover there are complexities throughout, and the Jews are not immune to that."
While some attending the screening reacted with quiet gasps to one scene in which a Nazi soldier is cornered and beaten by members of the encampment, those moments seemed especially honest to one reporter in attendance whose father had survived Dachau by escaping the camp and living in the nearby forest and later told stories just as harsh about what it took to survive there.
Coin hunt
Finding the money to tell that kind of story wasn't a simple process -- but not an unfamiliar one for this writer-director-
producer.
"This is typical for me with my movies. The studios didn't want the film, but we were able to go to Cannes and get European financing because my last few films had done well there," says Zwick, who completed the 60-day shoot on a $35 million budget, fully financed by Grosvenor Park. "Then we brought it back here (to the U.S.) and got domestic distribution from Paramount Vantage, and even then it was only possible if I and Daniel (Craig) took a very small portion of our salaries."
Zwick's passion for the material was evident in his commitment to the shooting location, Lithuania, which offers no tax incentives like some neighboring Eastern European countries.
It wasn't an easy shoot," says Dan Weil, "Defiance" art director, who adds that the country's and miles and miles of diverse forests were key to the film. "The forest was a character in the movie," he explains.
Composer James Newton Howard also found himself moved by Zwick's commitment to and passion for the material.
"His energy never lags," says Howard. "He was always so involved in the story."
The struggle to get the story onscreen was worth it, says Zwick. "With these kinds of subjects, it never gets easier, but the reason to do this is that there's a story that's worth telling."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799 ... =3383&cs=1
Zwick's WWII drama offers a fresh point of view
When Ed Zwick appeared at a November screening of his new film, "Defiance," he quoted some lines from a poem by W. H. Auden called "September 1, 1939":
"I and the public know
"What all school children learn,
"Those to whom evil is done
"Do evil in return."
Those lines are particularly relevant to the film, which is based on the true story of the Polish Jewish Bielski brothers, who saved dozens of other displaced Jews by offering them a kind of sanctuary and began a brutal fight against the Nazis in the forests of Eastern Europe during WWII. Indeed, the characters as portrayed in the film are heroic but also violent -- sometimes murderous -- in taking revenge against the Nazis and even each other. It's that duality that pulled Zwick into the story.
"People tend to describe history in monolithic terms," says the helmer regarding some of the film's unsettling depictions of retaliation. "But when you break it down, you discover there are complexities throughout, and the Jews are not immune to that."
While some attending the screening reacted with quiet gasps to one scene in which a Nazi soldier is cornered and beaten by members of the encampment, those moments seemed especially honest to one reporter in attendance whose father had survived Dachau by escaping the camp and living in the nearby forest and later told stories just as harsh about what it took to survive there.
Coin hunt
Finding the money to tell that kind of story wasn't a simple process -- but not an unfamiliar one for this writer-director-
producer.
"This is typical for me with my movies. The studios didn't want the film, but we were able to go to Cannes and get European financing because my last few films had done well there," says Zwick, who completed the 60-day shoot on a $35 million budget, fully financed by Grosvenor Park. "Then we brought it back here (to the U.S.) and got domestic distribution from Paramount Vantage, and even then it was only possible if I and Daniel (Craig) took a very small portion of our salaries."
Zwick's passion for the material was evident in his commitment to the shooting location, Lithuania, which offers no tax incentives like some neighboring Eastern European countries.
It wasn't an easy shoot," says Dan Weil, "Defiance" art director, who adds that the country's and miles and miles of diverse forests were key to the film. "The forest was a character in the movie," he explains.
Composer James Newton Howard also found himself moved by Zwick's commitment to and passion for the material.
"His energy never lags," says Howard. "He was always so involved in the story."
The struggle to get the story onscreen was worth it, says Zwick. "With these kinds of subjects, it never gets easier, but the reason to do this is that there's a story that's worth telling."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799 ... =3383&cs=1
Just read in my youtube channel this comment:
"Those "partisants" were Jews and they killed 130 polish farmers from village Naliboki in 1943.. but in this movie thye're presented as heroes! Sure - for Hollywood attacking at 5 o'clock in the morning sleepy civilians and killing them - is a heroism. Why ? Because killed civilians were POLISH ! If killed people would be Jews- then Hollywood wouldn't present their killers as heroes!
D. Craig shows jewish brother Bielski/killer making massacre in Naliboki as a hero! Shame!"
I don´t know is correct or not, already I asked to whom the source of information wrote it.
Practically I have not read anything on the movie, I know the plot and nothing more. I don´t liked the trailers, or the scenes that I saw, so I decided to stop reading and to see free of advertising and reviews in that I don´t know who write or why; but this commentary woke the curiosity up. Did someone read something similar?
"Those "partisants" were Jews and they killed 130 polish farmers from village Naliboki in 1943.. but in this movie thye're presented as heroes! Sure - for Hollywood attacking at 5 o'clock in the morning sleepy civilians and killing them - is a heroism. Why ? Because killed civilians were POLISH ! If killed people would be Jews- then Hollywood wouldn't present their killers as heroes!
D. Craig shows jewish brother Bielski/killer making massacre in Naliboki as a hero! Shame!"
I don´t know is correct or not, already I asked to whom the source of information wrote it.
Practically I have not read anything on the movie, I know the plot and nothing more. I don´t liked the trailers, or the scenes that I saw, so I decided to stop reading and to see free of advertising and reviews in that I don´t know who write or why; but this commentary woke the curiosity up. Did someone read something similar?
We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone.
6. Say what I’m thinking
6. Say what I’m thinking
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Germangirl
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Yes, not particularly this, because I only flew through those articles, but there has been unjustice from the side of the Bielskies also. Articles about that popped up ever so often. I am sure, its true, because you cannot fight such a fight without hurting innocent people, too.Faustine wrote:Just read in my youtube channel this comment:
"Those "partisants" were Jews and they killed 130 polish farmers from village Naliboki in 1943.. but in this movie thye're presented as heroes! Sure - for Hollywood attacking at 5 o'clock in the morning sleepy civilians and killing them - is a heroism. Why ? Because killed civilians were POLISH ! If killed people would be Jews- then Hollywood wouldn't present their killers as heroes!
D. Craig shows jewish brother Bielski/killer making massacre in Naliboki as a hero! Shame!"
I don´t know is correct or not, already I asked to whom the source of information wrote it.
Practically I have not read anything on the movie, I know the plot and nothing more. I don´t liked the trailers, or the scenes that I saw, so I decided to stop reading and to see free of advertising and reviews in that I don´t know who write or why; but this commentary woke the curiosity up. Did someone read something similar?
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..
The problem is not what the Bielski did, it already is a part of a serious historical discussion and because of it I asked immediately the source, I need to know wherefrom it extracted this ideas. In fact some words of this comment don´t like me but is a point to start to thinkGermangirl wrote:Yes, not particularly this, because I only flew through those articles, but there has been unjustice from the side of the Bielskies also. Articles about that popped up ever so often. I am sure, its true, because you cannot fight such a fight without hurting innocent people, too.Faustine wrote:Just read in my youtube channel this comment:
"Those "partisants" were Jews and they killed 130 polish farmers from village Naliboki in 1943.. but in this movie thye're presented as heroes! Sure - for Hollywood attacking at 5 o'clock in the morning sleepy civilians and killing them - is a heroism. Why ? Because killed civilians were POLISH ! If killed people would be Jews- then Hollywood wouldn't present their killers as heroes!
D. Craig shows jewish brother Bielski/killer making massacre in Naliboki as a hero! Shame!"
I don´t know is correct or not, already I asked to whom the source of information wrote it.
Practically I have not read anything on the movie, I know the plot and nothing more. I don´t liked the trailers, or the scenes that I saw, so I decided to stop reading and to see free of advertising and reviews in that I don´t know who write or why; but this commentary woke the curiosity up. Did someone read something similar?
What the post aims is that how tells this history in 2007, not in 1943, it woke my curiosity up. To do of a slaughter a heroic gesture. I don´t know yet if the post tells the truth but made me think.
It would not be the first time that after a movie the historians begin to tell the other histories on the same historical figures, since it happened with the Brad Pitt's character in Seven years in the Tibet or Mel Gibson in The Patriot or the same Oskar Schindler. It´s the risk. I guess
Last edited by Faustine on Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone.
6. Say what I’m thinking
6. Say what I’m thinking
JoniJoni wrote:http://jewssip.com/4394/exclusive-defia ... ion-movie/
Jewish website with their review of Defiance.
I love it!!!!
We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone.
6. Say what I’m thinking
6. Say what I’m thinking
http://www.forward.com/articles/13935/Faustine wrote:The problem is not what the Bielski did, it already is a part of a serious historical discussion and because of it I asked immediately the source, I need to know wherefrom it extracted this ideas. In fact some words of this comment don´t like me but is a point to start to thinkGermangirl wrote:Yes, not particularly this, because I only flew through those articles, but there has been unjustice from the side of the Bielskies also. Articles about that popped up ever so often. I am sure, its true, because you cannot fight such a fight without hurting innocent people, too.Faustine wrote:Just read in my youtube channel this comment:
"Those "partisants" were Jews and they killed 130 polish farmers from village Naliboki in 1943.. but in this movie thye're presented as heroes! Sure - for Hollywood attacking at 5 o'clock in the morning sleepy civilians and killing them - is a heroism. Why ? Because killed civilians were POLISH ! If killed people would be Jews- then Hollywood wouldn't present their killers as heroes!
D. Craig shows jewish brother Bielski/killer making massacre in Naliboki as a hero! Shame!"
I don´t know is correct or not, already I asked to whom the source of information wrote it.
Practically I have not read anything on the movie, I know the plot and nothing more. I don´t liked the trailers, or the scenes that I saw, so I decided to stop reading and to see free of advertising and reviews in that I don´t know who write or why; but this commentary woke the curiosity up. Did someone read something similar?
What the post aims is that how tells this history in 2007, not in 1943, it woke my curiosity up. To do of a slaughter a heroic gesture. I don´t know yet if the post tells the truth but made me think.
It would not be the first time that after a movie the historians begin to tell the other histories on the same historical figures, since it happened with the Brad Pitt's character in Seven years in the Tibet or Mel Gibson in The Patriot or the same Oskar Schindler. It´s the risk. I guess
This might help, and lets not forget that 5-6M jews were exterminated just over 60 years ago and anti semitism is still rife in society. Re-writing history to suit your goals happens all the time, the only people who know the truth are the survivors who were there and even then their account will be clouded by their personal expereiences.
Weren't they polish jews ? Didn't Poles serve jews up on a platter in Warshaw ? All I know is what I see in tv movies and holiwood movies . On the otherhand I remember coming back from a visit to TX to see my family who are hispanic and watching the Alamo movie and that time I was rooting for the mexicans . It all depends on your point of view . There must have been some reason the jews didn't go to the poles for help .
North star bonds with 007 co-star
ACTOR Jamie Bell has told how he has the coolest brother in the world . . . James Bond star Daniel Craig.
But sadly for the North movie star, he and 007 are only on-screen siblings in his latest movie Defiance.
The two star in the war drama, based on the true story of the Jewish Bielski brothers who formed a resistance group during World War Two, dedicated to saving Jewish lives.
It took three months to shoot the film in Lithuania, where the 22-year-old, from Billingham, Teesside, said he had a fantastic bonding experience with Craig and his other film brother Liev Schreiber. He said: “I grew up with my mother and sister, so I’m not used to a very masculine environment. “That was one of the draws of the film . . . having brothers for three months.
“I have no experience of having brothers so the way me, Daniel and Liev bonded was fascinating.
“Daniel teased me a lot. He saw my feeble facial hair and was like, ‘What’s this? But I’ve known him for a long time. I think of him from Our Friends in the North, not Bond.
“He’s an amazing actor, he really heightens the scenes, heightens the material, elevates other people’s performances and commands the set. He’s in love with filmmaking and he wanted to create that brotherly bond between us all.
“I remember one day — there was always a little banter and wrestling around — he decided to throw me onto the bonnet of a car.
“I think that’s how James Bond plays with his brothers, ramming them into cars.
“We had a great time, hanging out, and having the odd vodka, because it was so damn cold.”
As well as enjoying working with his new pals, Jamie felt proud to bring a story of heroism to the screen.
Defiance is out in cinemas on January 9.
http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-e ... -22520711/
ACTOR Jamie Bell has told how he has the coolest brother in the world . . . James Bond star Daniel Craig.
But sadly for the North movie star, he and 007 are only on-screen siblings in his latest movie Defiance.
The two star in the war drama, based on the true story of the Jewish Bielski brothers who formed a resistance group during World War Two, dedicated to saving Jewish lives.
It took three months to shoot the film in Lithuania, where the 22-year-old, from Billingham, Teesside, said he had a fantastic bonding experience with Craig and his other film brother Liev Schreiber. He said: “I grew up with my mother and sister, so I’m not used to a very masculine environment. “That was one of the draws of the film . . . having brothers for three months.
“I have no experience of having brothers so the way me, Daniel and Liev bonded was fascinating.
“Daniel teased me a lot. He saw my feeble facial hair and was like, ‘What’s this? But I’ve known him for a long time. I think of him from Our Friends in the North, not Bond.
“He’s an amazing actor, he really heightens the scenes, heightens the material, elevates other people’s performances and commands the set. He’s in love with filmmaking and he wanted to create that brotherly bond between us all.
“I remember one day — there was always a little banter and wrestling around — he decided to throw me onto the bonnet of a car.
“I think that’s how James Bond plays with his brothers, ramming them into cars.
“We had a great time, hanging out, and having the odd vodka, because it was so damn cold.”
As well as enjoying working with his new pals, Jamie felt proud to bring a story of heroism to the screen.
Defiance is out in cinemas on January 9.
http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-e ... -22520711/
Thank you very much for the link, I will read it attentivly. I read historical texts with a lot of care. I have studied History in the University so be when an anti-Semite speaks. The person who wrote it is anti-Semitic, I perceived it in the commentary and confirmed it with a mail who sent me.honeyjes wrote:http://www.forward.com/articles/13935/Faustine wrote:The problem is not what the Bielski did, it already is a part of a serious historical discussion and because of it I asked immediately the source, I need to know wherefrom it extracted this ideas. In fact some words of this comment don´t like me but is a point to start to thinkGermangirl wrote: Yes, not particularly this, because I only flew through those articles, but there has been unjustice from the side of the Bielskies also. Articles about that popped up ever so often. I am sure, its true, because you cannot fight such a fight without hurting innocent people, too.
What the post aims is that how tells this history in 2007, not in 1943, it woke my curiosity up. To do of a slaughter a heroic gesture. I don´t know yet if the post tells the truth but made me think.
It would not be the first time that after a movie the historians begin to tell the other histories on the same historical figures, since it happened with the Brad Pitt's character in Seven years in the Tibet or Mel Gibson in The Patriot or the same Oskar Schindler. It´s the risk. I guess
This might help, and lets not forget that 5-6M jews were exterminated just over 60 years ago and anti semitism is still rife in society. Re-writing history to suit your goals happens all the time, the only people who know the truth are the survivors who were there and even then their account will be clouded by their personal expereiences.
I know on the Shoah, I was employed at an jewish help organization, AMIA, which suffered an attempt in 1994, in Buenos Aires killing 89 persons. I know that they them hate and I know that in a war it is an extraordinary situation.
In my country also we had our "small" holocaust in the decade of 70, when in less than three years a military dictatorship killed 30.000 persons and still today there are groups that question the quantity or if really happened.
We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone.
6. Say what I’m thinking
6. Say what I’m thinking
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Anglophile
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That's what always seems to happen after such a period. Here in Germany, after the war it took more than twenty years until the crimes of the Nazi era even became an issue, and there are still some dorks who claim that the Holocaust never happened.Faustine wrote:In my country also we had our "small" holocaust in the decade of 70, when in less than three years a military dictatorship killed 30.000 persons and still today there are groups that question the quantity or if really happened.
The more joy we have, the more nearly perfect we are. ~Spinoza~
I know it, there is a english historian, I don´t remember his name that was in the jail for the idea spread that the Shoah did not exist.Anglophile wrote:That's what always seems to happen after such a period. Here in Germany, after the war it took more than twenty years until the crimes of the Nazi era even became an issue, and there are still some dorks who claim that the Holocaust never happened.Faustine wrote:In my country also we had our "small" holocaust in the decade of 70, when in less than three years a military dictatorship killed 30.000 persons and still today there are groups that question the quantity or if really happened.
Here still we are judging the torturers and it is a very painful but absolutely necessary process in order that the district attorney in 1984 in the judgment to the Military Meeting is fulfilled. "Nevermore. NUNCA MAS"
We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone.
6. Say what I’m thinking
6. Say what I’m thinking