Polish historians attack Jewish freedom fighters
Based on a true story, Edward Zwick’s Defiance is about three Jewish brothers who escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and others in danger. The film has received many plaudits for moving away from stereotyping wartime Jews as passive victims, and for being a very solid war film in its own right. But some people are not happy.
Polish historians have begun a protest campaign to sabotage the film and are demanding that Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Lech Kaczynski condemn the film for glorifying “common criminals” as national heroes.
The lead character in the film, Tewje Bielski played by Daniel Craig, has been accused by some Polish historians of carrying out vicious purges of Polish civilians during his guerilla campaign.