Spring Break
Cigar Exclusive: Ed Zwick talks about new movie, 'Defiance'
Caity Cudworth
Issue date: 1/22/09 Section: Entertainment
01/22/09 - Movies about the Holocaust are apt to be heavy sagas, and director Ed Zwick's ("Blood Diamond," "Traffic") latest sprawling triumph, "Defiance," is no exception. All the grim terror of World War II is there in spades.
But heroes are often born from the bleakest of circumstances, and "Defiance" unravels the true story of the Bielski brothers' unlikely heroism in the face of unfathomable tragedy.
A hard-nosed Daniel Craig kicks ass and takes names as Jewish outlaw, Tuvia Bielski and his brother Zus, played by Liev Schreiber, makes an equally valiant sidekick.
The hard-drinking, gun-toting Bielskis lead a sort of rustic thug life in the Polish countryside, and as the twisted tyranny of the Nazis looms ever larger over Europe, it's do or die.
The title says it all: this is a movie about victims fighting back.
"Defiance," which hit theaters Jan. 16, tells the story of the Bielski brothers, who survived in the forests of Belarus as the Nazis closed in, bringing thousands of Jews with them and building a settlement of survivors who struggle to weather the horrific thrall of the Holocaust.
The themes of the film aren't subtle - and occasionally, it bites off more than it can comfortably chew. But the story is wrought with elegance, and Craig and Schreiber bring bold grit to this true tale.
Director Ed Zwick, who took time out to talk to the Cigar about "Defiance," put it this way: "The title of the movie is "Defiance," and obviously that refers to revenge and survival, but I think there's another kind of defiance, which is the willingness to live life - and that includes romance and sexuality, and definitely humor."
The unlikely unity that forms among the members of the so-called "Bielski Otriad" - a ragtag group of resourceful refugees - doesn't come easily though. Bickering, jealousy and insurgence all seethe as more and more exiled Jews join the band of forest-bound rebels.
"They're Jews," Zwick said of the (occasionally bloody) spats within the Bielskis' settlement. "And when you have two Jews in a room you have six opinions - it's just inevitable, and that was important to me: to not present a monolith. No culture is a monolith. There are any number of divisions within a group and I thought it was very important to portray them."
But heroes are often born from the bleakest of circumstances, and "Defiance" unravels the true story of the Bielski brothers' unlikely heroism in the face of unfathomable tragedy.
A hard-nosed Daniel Craig kicks ass and takes names as Jewish outlaw, Tuvia Bielski and his brother Zus, played by Liev Schreiber, makes an equally valiant sidekick.
The hard-drinking, gun-toting Bielskis lead a sort of rustic thug life in the Polish countryside, and as the twisted tyranny of the Nazis looms ever larger over Europe, it's do or die.
The title says it all: this is a movie about victims fighting back.
"Defiance," which hit theaters Jan. 16, tells the story of the Bielski brothers, who survived in the forests of Belarus as the Nazis closed in, bringing thousands of Jews with them and building a settlement of survivors who struggle to weather the horrific thrall of the Holocaust.
The themes of the film aren't subtle - and occasionally, it bites off more than it can comfortably chew. But the story is wrought with elegance, and Craig and Schreiber bring bold grit to this true tale.
Director Ed Zwick, who took time out to talk to the Cigar about "Defiance," put it this way: "The title of the movie is "Defiance," and obviously that refers to revenge and survival, but I think there's another kind of defiance, which is the willingness to live life - and that includes romance and sexuality, and definitely humor."
The unlikely unity that forms among the members of the so-called "Bielski Otriad" - a ragtag group of resourceful refugees - doesn't come easily though. Bickering, jealousy and insurgence all seethe as more and more exiled Jews join the band of forest-bound rebels.
"They're Jews," Zwick said of the (occasionally bloody) spats within the Bielskis' settlement. "And when you have two Jews in a room you have six opinions - it's just inevitable, and that was important to me: to not present a monolith. No culture is a monolith. There are any number of divisions within a group and I thought it was very important to portray them."
