Defiance tells the World War II tale of three Jewish brothers who hide from the Nazis by living in the woods, and in alliance with Soviet partisans, perform raids while trying to survive. The Bielski brothers – Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell) – hide in the forest when their parents and neighbors are slaughtered by the Nazis. Soon they have a small gathering of other refugees, and start to build a camp. Taking the leadership …
Blood Diamond
Tonight I went to a PGA screening of Edward Zwick’s new film, Blood Diamond. The film takes place in the late 1990s, during which the West African nation of Sierra Leone was embroiled in the middle of a civil war. The rebels (the RUF) are fighting the government, but the people are being caught in the crossfire. (Isn’t that always the way?) To help fund their revolution, “conflict diamonds” are smuggled out and eventually make their way into the world …
The Last Samurai
From the trailers, this film looked like “Dances with Wolves in Japan”. The score by Hans Zimmer, which I had been listening to for a few weeks now, has been growing on me, and I was eager to hear it in the context of the film. The screening started a little late (no surprise), and I hadn’t figured on the film being 2.5 hours long. Whoops. Overall, the film was pretty good – not “great” – and the general plot …