Most of the Holocaust films Hollywood has produced in the last 20 years present hope in the face of Nazi evil, portraying the heroism of righteous gentiles, whose sympathy and humanity triumph over prejudice. Such films promote building a better world through strengthened relations between Jews and gentiles, but one element is conspicuously absent: courageous Jewish heroes.
Defiance, directed by Edward Zwick and based on the book by Nechama Tec, emerges as one of the first Hollywood movies to suggest that the problem Jews face in the modern era is a lack of courage. While this movie is exceptional in its attempt to display, and even revive, Jewish courage, its real strength is in depicting the moral complexities inherent in being courageous. Defiance tells the story of Tuvia and Zus Bielski, two brothers who transform an eclectic group of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in a Polish forest. They create a militia that not only fights for its survival, but also challenges the Nazi forces.
The Bielskis are forced to make difficult, unpopular choices. When Tuvia faces the mutiny of a group of soldiers who want more food than the women and children, he argues that all members of the camp contributed in different ways and therefore deserve equal portions. To enforce this, Tuvia must have confidence in his decision to squelch the rebellion. The strong leader does not bend to the immediate desires and complaints of different factions. As we watch Tuvia bear the leader’s burden of isolation, we see that courage can demand sacrificing personal comfort or honor for the sake of the community.
Defiance also delineates the role wisdom plays in harnessing courage, so we can distinguish it from rashness. Wise decisions are necessary to channel courage to a higher end, and the impulse to act boldly in the face of possible defeat should be tempered by a higher purpose and a method. Two characters who embody wisdom are a rabbi and a socialist journalist, an unlikely pair brought together by extraordinary circumstances. Together they challenge the ethics of the militia’s method of fighting and propose alternatives. This evokes the Israel Defense Forces, whose elite squads perform risky missions using highly advanced technological and tactical deliberations—while also taking into consideration the ethical implications of their actions.
The secular fighters and the Haredi characters initially represent opposite positions. The first group denies God in its struggle to survive; the second passively waits for redemption. When the militia liberates some of the observant Jews from the shtetl, it appears as if this dichotomy will remain: The pious simply stand by while the soldiers fight, raising the question of whether one must renounce religion in order to survive. Indeed, this tension is at the very core of the film. Tuvia’s suggestion that Jewish survival itself is a repudiation of the Nazis’ aims endows the militia’s fight with a greater, almost religious meaning. But Defiance does not attempt to reduce religion to this alone.
As the story progresses, the religious are trained to fight and become tougher; the fighters become more spiritual. Religious worship and celebrations form an important cohesive bond for the group and keep their spirits high. Before dying, the rabbi says that God sent Tuvia to redeem them, sanctioning a new form of religiosity: political action.
We can think of the enclave established by the Bielski brothers as a microcosm of the independent Jewish state that would soon be established. In many ways, the moral and political challenges faced by the Bielskis are not that different from those faced by the political leaders of Israel today. Indeed, Tuvia Bielski’s vision and subtle understanding could serve as an example to Israeli leaders who are still struggling with how best to justify the need for Israeli courage on the world stage.
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