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Defiance

Defiance

Drama · History · War · 2008

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.

Movie details

Defiance

“Freedom begins with an act of defiance”

2008 Drama · History · War 2h 17m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

159.8K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

58 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

58 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Defiance?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Irena's Vow

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19 year old Irena Gut is promoted to housekeeper in the home of a highly respected Nazi officer in Poland when she finds out that the Jewish ghetto is about to be liquidated. Determined to help twelve Jewish workers, she decides to shelter them in the safest place she can think of – the basement of the German Major's house. Over the next eight months, Irena uses her wit, humour and immense courage to hide her friends as long as possible.

Men in War

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Edward Zwick

Written by

Clayton Frohman · Edward Zwick

Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig

Tuvia Bielski

Liev Schreiber

Liev Schreiber

Zus Bielski

Jamie Bell

Jamie Bell

Asael Bielski

Alexa Davalos

Alexa Davalos

Lilka Ticktin

Allan Corduner

Allan Corduner

Shimon Haretz

Mark Feuerstein

Mark Feuerstein

Isaac Malbin

Tomas Arana

Tomas Arana

Ben Zion Gulkowitz

Court is in session

Put Defiance on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.