Defiance

Edward Zwick's WWII era Belarus is the same era and location as Elem Klimov's Belarus war drama "Come and See" except that "" wears its heart on its sleeve where Klimov's superior film took a more poetic yet realistic approach. Three brothers, an avenger-turned-passivist Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber), and younger Asael (Jamie Bell) go into hiding inside the thick forests of Belarus with an ever-growing group of Holocaust refugee partisans. Tuvia has a crisis of faith about the effects of revenge after murdering his father's assassin, and Zus comes to doubt Tuvia's ability to lead before breaking away to start his own band of freedom fighters. Historian Nechama Tec's factual book "Defiance: The Story of the Bielski Partisans" provides the basis for an underwhelming war film done in by miscalculated episodes of violence and some exceptionally inept dialogue. Director of photography Eduardo Serra's shaky camera takes its toll, along with James Newton's all-too-obvious musical score.

(Paramount Vantage) Rated R. 136 mins. (C) (Two Stars)