DEFIANCE

There are so many stories about World War II and the Holocaust, it has become increasingly more difficult for producers of films and printed works to decipher the truth. Accounts in the pending, but now dead in the water, Angel at the Fence were disproved to a degree that Herman Rosenblat could no longer defend or deny by a team from Michigan State University. The discovery all but shelved the author's dreams of sharing his fictitious account of how he first met his wife as kids on opposite sides of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

I mention this as a mini-foreword so that you will understand the significance of finding an intensely unique, and more importantly true, story in a period during the world's history that has been convoluted and reimagined to the distress of historians, survivors, veterans, and nations alike.

Everybody's favorite, or at least current favorite Bond, Daniel Craig is Tuvia Bielski, an unsettled man who returned home to find his best friend and brother, Zus, played aptly by Liev Schreiber has managed to save the younger Bielski brothers from certain death by roving Nazi's. These same Nazi's, known to them since childhood were once farmers and businessmen, never fond of any of the local Jewish families. Distraught by the death of their parents, Tuvia kills a commander and his sons while his brothers safely retreat to the Belarussian forest and await his return. Of course Tuvia returns with many more displaced Jewish men, women and children all seeking the safety and anonymity the forest afford them. Quickly, the rogue spirit of the brothers begins to shine through as they devise a plan to create a co-op and support the influx of their fellow brethren. Leadership is not easily shared and Zus and Tuvia take separate but equally intriguing pasts, at times they are at odds with each other, but more often than not, they are share the same enemy - self discovery.

Defiance by name is not accurate. Most of those who retreat to the forest are not fighters by trade and simply wish to avoid the Nazi rule or plight afflicting family and friends now taken to work camps across Germany and Poland. Tuvia struggles with how to save everyone and lead compassionately. Zus battles to escape the shadow of his older brother and in joining the Soviet military finds the disdain for his fellow Jews comparable to the Nazi's.

I marveled at the depth of the story and the relative ease with which Edward Zwick and Clayton Frohman delivered superior character arcs and kept the momentum. Two years literally passed in eighty-eight minutes. Though I jest, there was little room for ho-hum acting or a lapse in action, drama, and great dialogue. At moments the air of despair felt too thick to breath and the utter joy at times fed my soul long enough to endeavor the next daring moment, whether it be an escape or a food mission.

Another strength of Defiance is also its barrier to getting its credit where and when it is due. Somewhat a sleeper film, those who favor action will pass it, fearing too much drama and those who favor story will see Craig and almost immediately and viscerally react to it as if they were being asked to watch Rambo. Catch Defiance on the big screen or the home theater and you are sure to see an intelligent adaptation of a true story that moves, entertains, and challenges you, the viewer.

TOWELHEAD (NOTHING IS PRIVATE)

In an era of uber-patriotism where stories from the fray about the Arab-American experience are limited, I reveled in the release of Towelhead and the reception it received from the critic and film communities. Often times, these are one in the same, but hopes were still high as indie and art house films are counted among my favorites. Towelhead would dash these hopes within the first few minutes, and like a patient in a coma, the subsequent 80 or so minutes would fail to revive me to a conscious state.

Based on the novel by Alicia Erian, Alan Ball adapted the controversial story of a rapidly maturing teen whose defiant tendencies and multiracial roots underlie a series of tensions including gender, sexuality, and class. Jasira, played rather indifferently by Summer Bishil has been raised by her WASPy mom in a lesser, but distinctly American environment, where the presence of a strong, let alone decent male role model is sorely absent. After a misstep by her mother's boyfriend, young Jasira is sent to live with her Arab father to learn appropriateness, which we all understand to be code for a mother feeling threatened by her increasingly more developed and attractive daughter. Jasira's father, employed at NASA and residing in a conventional American suburb is a walking contradiction and adeptly acted by Peter Macdissi. His inability to relate to his kin is matched only by his passion to preserve his daughter's virginity.

Among Jasira's non-related antagonists is a Reservist and his family, who represent all we have been led to believe is true about middle-class neo-con Americans. Conflict also presents itself in the form of an attractive male classmate whose is forbidden to Jasira because he is African-American. Neither resolves itself by the end of the movie, though illusions of such a thing exist.
Towelhead proved to be little more than a Lifetime movie. Lacking inspiration or grit in any measure, we don't know whether to root for Jasira to grow up more quickly like her peers or shutter at the thought that Jasira's attempts to mainstream her life and self-identify are in fact unbecoming realities of our culture.

The script lacked cohesion to a point of distraction. I feared in an attempt to attract the big names of Hollywood to the project only a few actors were matched with roles actually becoming of their talents, Toni Collette for one, whom you never doubt for a minute as the well-meaning, intrusive neighbor harboring a personal vendetta against the Reservist.

My hope would be that the book is somehow "better" than the movie. Whatever the case, Towelhead fails to connect in a big way and almost completely ignores how well-placed its release was in the timeline of our country.

2008 Recap

It’s odd that I should start a new year with two reviews on films I did not particularly enjoy. One I had low (read “no”) hopes for and it was basically that good, although credit where credit is due, it could have been much worse. The other film had a decent chance to be excellent and was more less a saga of indifference all the way around.

A note about where we are going with this blog. The old model for reviewing films is forever gone. It was labor intensive and designed for a time when I would watch two to three movies in a day. This commitment to reviewing has given way, to my pursuit of seeing one of my own screenplays optioned and developed into a movie that I can file somewhere on my DVD shelf. In 2009, I am looking to complete a few projects and select a Ph.D. program, which really leaves me little time to chronicle my fascination with the silver screen. Recently, I joined a movie preview critic’s club that lets me view, one whole day in advance, a film opening for the general public. This month it is Defiance with Daniel Craig. No word whether it will be good, or if I will clean house on the Cinequiz that follows the film preview.

If you’re any kind of fan of film, 2008 was a rough year for you marred by movies that fell flat, promised nothing, and likewise delivered it, or were spectacular(ly) overlooked. My favorite film of 2008 was Slumdog Millionaire. If I could give you the gift of great film, every year you would open something that would resemble Millionaire. Inspired and unique, it is the champion of Danny Boyle’s career as a director. Last year I recounted how seeing Little Children made me want to read the book, Millionaire also makes me want to read Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A. If there is one thing Millionaire’s impending award season success proves, it’s that outsourcing is not just a corporate trend. The movie had a comparatively small budget and turned out superbly equal product. Now of course the world is filled with great stories and America cannot own such an honor itself, but bet money on Bollywood henceforth. Their time is here.

Lastly, thank you for reading! I vow not to let you down in the blog and in my own writing for the screen. Reviews will be littered with little tidbits you didn’t know and perspectives that are mine, yours or somebody else’s who just wouldn’t shut up as they sat behind me in the theater. Thankfully, I have much more control over the home theater situation.