Rotten
The way Zwick force-feeds his audience emotion becomes laborious.
Ben Lyons, At the Movies
Defiance
Freedom begins with an act of defiance
2008 · 2h 17m · R
Action, Drama, History, War
Directed by
Edward Zwick
Overview
Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.
Director and cast
- Edward Zwick Director
- Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski
- Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski
- Jamie Bell as Asael Bielski
- Mia Wasikowska as Chaya Dziencielsky
- Alexa Davalos as Lilka Ticktin
- Iben Hjejle as Bella
- Allan Corduner as Shimon Haretz
- Mark Feuerstein as Isaac Malbin
- Tomas Arana as Ben Zion Gulkowitz
- Jodhi May as Tamara Skidelsky
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
58%
Tomatometer
Rotten
I felt like these characters were prototypes and not people.
Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies
Fresh
As a piece of historical redress, a great service has been done in bringing this narrative to the screen.
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
Rotten
It's understandable and laudable that they desire not to sensationalize the Bielskis, and they've made a worthy film. But their understated approach makes the struggle seem less urgent than it must surely have been.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Fresh
Ultimately, the film celebrates and memorializes the survival of something unthinkable, and a group of people for whom defiance meant, at heart, that they would push against the growing darkness and carry on.
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
More films
Schindler's List (1993)
Drama · History · War · R
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
- Runtime
- 3h 15m
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Cast
- Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
IMDb
9.0
Rotten Tomatoes
98%
Metacritic
95
Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Drama · History · Romance · War · R
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.
- Runtime
- 2h 11m
- Director
- Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Cast
- Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
IMDb
7.5
Rotten Tomatoes
53%
Metacritic
53
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Action · Drama · War · R
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
- Runtime
- 2h 21m
- Director
- Clint Eastwood
- Cast
- Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara
IMDb
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes
91%
Metacritic
89
Train of Life (1998)
Comedy · Drama · War · R
In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.
- Runtime
- 1h 43m
- Director
- Radu Mihăileanu
- Cast
- Lionel Abelanski, Rufus, Clément Harari
IMDb
7.7
Rotten Tomatoes
64%
Metacritic
62
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Drama · Thriller · War · R
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris whic...
- Runtime
- 2h 33m
- Director
- Quentin Tarantino
- Cast
- Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent
IMDb
8.4
Rotten Tomatoes
89%
Metacritic
69
Comments
Talk about the film with other members