Defiance
Headline: ** Compelling True Story **
Title: DEFIANCE
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -1
SUBTITLES: -- Some portions in Russian and Polish with English subtitles --
WARNING CODES:
Language: LL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: None
RATING: R
RELEASE: December 31, 2008
TIME: 137 minutes
STARRING: Daniel Craig, Leiv Schreiber, Jamie Bell, George MacKay, Tomas Arana, Rolandas Boravskis, and Alexa Davalos
DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
PRODUCERS: Pieter Jan Brugge and Edward Zwick
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: None
WRITERS: Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY: Nechama Tec
DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Vantage/Viacom
CONTENT: (BBB, H, LL, VVV, S, N, AA, M) Very strong moral, biblical worldview of doing good and not seeking revenge, praying to God in Jewish context, and belief in God, plus a humanist line that God is not likely to part a body of water for the good guys like he did for Moses so they have to do things for themselves; 21 obscenities and no profanities; much war violence, many characters shot in fighting, five characters shot close up, bombing, fist fight, man hung, man beaten by mob; implied sexual relations and woman puts man's hand on her chest over sweater; upper male nudity, nude couple together but covered up; much drinking of alcohol; no smoking or drugs; and, anti-Semitic statements by Nazis and Russian soldiers and revenge rebuked.
GENRE: Drama
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Sumner Redstone, Chairman/CEO, Viacom
Nicolas Meyer and Nick Meyer, President
Paramount Vantage
(aka Paramount Classics)
A Division of Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Avenue
Chevalier Building
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Phone: (323) 956-2000; Fax: (323) 862-1212
Website: www.paramountclassics.com
SUMMARY: DEFIANCE is the true story of three Jewish brothers during World War II who flee from Nazis into the Belarussian forest, where they build a community to protect other refugees. DEFIANCE has a very strong moral theme with positive references to God and faith, but caution needs to be exercised for the movie's wartime violence, some foul language and implied unmarried sex.
IN BRIEF:
Set during World War II, DEFIANCE is the true story of three Jewish brothers who flee from Nazis into the Belarussian forest, where they build a community to protect other refugees. Zus Bielski leads the brothers to kill and loot those helping the Germans. His brother Tuvia, however, puts an end to the vigilante revenge and leads the people into building a small village in the forest. Tuvia continues to rescue refugee Jews until the community numbers in the hundreds. Despite illness, a bitterly harsh winter and internal strife, they rescue over 1,200 people by the war's end.
This remarkable story of courage is well made and well acted, especially by Daniel Craig and Live Schreiber as the two main brothers. The story has a profound emotional depth as the characters endure continual hardship. DEFIANCE also has a message of faith with a very strong moral worldview. A character says that he almost lost his faith in God when they fled to the forest but he now knows that Tuvia was sent by God to save them. The movie's wartime violence, brief foul language and implied sexual content require caution.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
