Defiance

When Edward Zwick's name appears as the director credit it indicates an important issue themed movie, with big stars and a maximum of cliche events from beginning to end. In Defiance a renegade band of Jews finds refuge from the Nazis in the big thicket that borders Eastern Europe and Russia (western Belorussia). Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell are brothers who variously lead the group. The entire sequence of event is based on real history and in particular the book of the same name by Nechama Tec.
I didn't have a problem with the whole depiction of partisans by handsome leading men, nor the calvary coming over the hill at the prescribed moment. What got me was the constant digital snow. Of course the movie catch 22 about shooting in cold weather dictates that if it's really snowing so hard it's swirling around like confetti at a victory parade then it's also so cold that cameras freeze. But the CGI snowflakes are so obvious especially when they don't melt on the coats they are falling upon.
After the Bielski brothers are forced to flee to the woods they hit back with reprisal murders for informers. Eventually Nazis raid their hiding place and they again flee and build a bigger better hiding place. Craig wavers between killing, justifiably so, in cold blood and being a just leader to his people. Meanwhile Schreiber wants to lead in a manner altogether different and splits to join Russian guerillas who also live in the woods and fight Nazis.
Defiance maintains your interest with constant war action. The drama does little to move the parts in between. One thing is certain, mock Eastern Euro accent beside the point, Craig is the consummate alpha male.