MovieChat Forums > Defiance (2009) Discussion > The annoying parts

The annoying parts

posted 9 years ago by xkcd14
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm sorry, but after all the nice presentation, good image, decent music and overall cast, there are a few flaws on either characters decisions, or even dialog, that made me either laugh or wonder how the director could include such scenes in the movie.
I can handle the "romance" between any of the characters, despite the fact that it distracts from the movie itself and adds nothing to the story development.
I even accept the cold-blooded murders and the seek for revenge, those are choices that I have never faced and I don't know how I would react on the situation.
But some parts just do not sound good in a movie with this theme:
- At the beginning, when Tuvia kills the 3 guys in the house. First thing to do, if you're low on ammunition, is check the guys/house for guns, don't come back empty handed and with just one bullet!
- At some point, Chaya (Mia Wasikowska) tells Asael (Jamie Bell) that if he helps on the rescue of her parents, she will do anything for him. The parents are presented on a scene that lacks any emotion, and they are not used anymore in the movie!
- The scene where medicins are stolen from a police station is, apart from poorly edited, unbelievable. Direct shots on the chest do not kill you? We have seen before people dying on single shots.
- How does Asael survive the prosecution of German soldiers, that clearly outnumber him?
Getting to the worst parts..
-Twice the women on the camp make frivolous comments. There is a time where new people comes to the camp, while some women are worried about the food, one of them says "more bodies to keep us warm" and they all laugh. Frivolous, but maybe acceptable as an attempt on black humour. But the scene in the river lacks any reality, they are just worried about how they look and that they plan to get fat and blablabla... Is this an american soap opera? I'll be worried about losing my life any day!
- After the unnecesary 'moses' comparison, german aircraft bombers start to do a massacre on the camp, blowing entire 'houses' as well as leaving the characters with no option as escaping. They are sooned force to go the 'river' way, after being chased by infantry. The effort on defending is useless, which is a believable part as trained german soldiers should have no trouble on getting rid on a few untrained people carrying firearms. But the people escaping are in no hurry, they just walk their way out, and even Asael has time to join them with an injured guy!!! How slow is the infantry walking? Why don't they pay any attention to the infantry anymore?
- On that same scene, the planes are still seen over their heads, are they not worried that going on the open field, being even more visible than in the forest, they can be torn to pieces by bombs? Is infantry afraid of going into the water anyway?
- The tank part.. On the lapse that Tuvia and the other guy that the machine gun and attack the soldiers on their left flank, the tank had time to destroy more than half of the jewish.. but when the scene ends it seems no gunfire was pointed to them after Tuvia moved..
- The rescue from Zus.. who is the people following him? They were like 6-8 people joining the russians at the beginning, two of them killed on the radio station incident, and another was injured, and it was the only one seen leaving the campament with him.

Those are the aspects that made me feel like it was not a good movie, and I'm surprised to not see them pointed on the user reviews.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

I even accept the cold-blooded murders ...

of nazies and nazi collaborators ... that's nice of you to do that, but you still sound as if the Bielskis did something worse than the invaders.

I can handle the "romance" ...

The film touches on what it calls "forest romances", the result of men and women living close to one another in a forest for over 2 years. It's based on true events and again you sound as if it was better not to bring things like this up. Why?

Direct shots on the chest do not kill you? We have seen before people dying on single shots.

Sure! But again you seem to be forgetting that the film is based on true events. Zeus didn't die on that raid. In fact he lived till 1995. But that's not to say he was never wounded.

In fact most of your criticisms to use your own words are rather

... frivolous ...

and seemingly forgetful of the fact that the film has a real life basis. You don't like some of the dialogue. You don't like the fact that the women were bathing in the stream ( Yeah, I guess they should have stayed confined to their ensuites). The partisan refugees didn't employ proper military tactics all the time; camouflage and being out in the open etc. ( Hello, they hadn't all had military training and a lot of them were old, young and not always in the best health).

Those are the aspects that made me feel like it was not a good movie, and I'm surprised to not see them pointed on the user reviews.

I'd say most of the reviewers recognized, unlike you, that the film was based on a true story, and was not just your typical WW2 action adventure.

[–] Hurry_up_N_buy 9 years ago

One thing I completely agree with you on:

- At the beginning, when Tuvia kills the 3 guys in the house. First thing to do, if you're low on ammunition, is check the guys/house for guns, don't come back empty handed and with just one bullet!

ESPECIALLY when throughout the entire rest of the movie, weapon and ammunition retrieval is a strong focal point. Why would he just not care in that one scene?

I also agree the entire marsh conflict was a stretch. I mean I guess it was all relative to time and positioning in actuality, but yeah, stretch nonetheless.

Rest of your gripes are 'ehhh whatever,' I stongly disagree with:

-Twice the women on the camp make frivolous comments....

In times of disparity, people talk and make jokes like they did, all the time.

People hate what's popular and people jump on bandwagons. The rest of us are in the middle. Done.

[–] EddieB1971 8 years ago

The bit that got me almost laughing was the scene at the end with the tank. All the German soldiers were firing in one direction (a direction there hadn't been any return fire from for a while), when all of a sudden they're attacked from a completely different direction, basically directly behind them.
Barely any of the German soldiers bother to turn around though. Even a full minute into the shooting from that direction, the Germans are still facing the wrong way. Even at the end, when one of the brothers gets onto the tank and shoots the commander, he's still facing the wrong way, merrily blazing away, completely ignoring the 20 partisans 90 degrees to his left.

Only slightly unrealistic!